Ranma: The Only Constant
by mojack
Summary: Ranma needs a vacation from his daily hell, and where else but Juuban would the chaos bound martial artist go? Everything changes in this not-so-faraway land for Ranma, and secrets and conspiricies thousands of years old are uncovered.
1. Prologue

Author's Notes: Ok Hi. This is my very first fanfic ever and this is just a short prologue to it. Personally, I think this is crap but you never know which is why I'm posting this now for any sort of feedback. I already have the first three chapters of this fic written and I don't plan on posting any more of this until I have the entire fic done, unless I get amazingly good feedback from this. Chances are that I'm going to come back and change this prologue somewhere along the line but I'm posting it anyways. Now read, review, & enjoy please.

The Only Constant

Prologue

Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, sat on the roof of the Tendo compound reflecting on his existence in this world. This had been his favorite spot to come to as of late just to unwind from the day-to-day craziness that is his life.

It has been a few months since the pathetic excuse for a wedding between him and Akane Tendo and he was still seething over the events that had transpired. One in particular was how a certain shriveled perverted master of the Anything Goes School drank the one and only cure to the pig-tailed martial artists curse. How did the old freak drink the whole flask of the blessed water without noticing that it wasn't celebratory sake until he finished?! Sure the whoop-ass that followed was glorious but it didn't make up for the fact that his and Akane's wedding was ruined.

Since then, life has proceeded as if the wedding never happened. Kuno still wants to save his "pig-tailed goddess" from the "foul sorcerer Saotome." The Hawaiian crazed principle of Furinkan High still wastes the days away brawling away with the students for ridiculous reasons. Ranma's walks home from school still involve an encounter with the Fiancée Brigade which inevitably results in a free trip across town via Air Akane. And most frustrating of all, he is still cursed to turn into a she when splashed with cold water. Actually one thing has changed, Ranma now launches Happousai into the horizon whenever he sees him regardless of what the old lecher is doing since his antics at the wedding.

Sometimes, the cursed martial artist wishes that he could get away from it all, maybe just for a day. But he knows that if the chaos in his life was to suddenly disappear, chances are he would go crazy in a matter of weeks, possibly days.

The sound of Kasumi's voice below snapped Ranma out of his trance. "Ranma-kun, dinner is ready."

"Comin'." Knowing full well that his food won't be left untouched by the residing fat man with glasses for long, Ranma quickly jumped from the roof and rushed to his spot at the table. Just in time to intercept a pair of chopsticks aimed for his rice.

XXXX

"Shabon Spray Freezing!" The youma that consisted of what appeared to be LEGO blocks looked around frantically as it was quickly enveloped by a thick and heavy mist. As a being with little to no intelligence it decided that its only option was to shoot its detachable arms randomly in all directions hoping for a hit. When this yielded no results two shouts pierced the mist.

"Burning Mandala!"

"Crescent Beam!" The fire and light based attacks cut through the mist and combined in mid-flight towards the youma. The combined attacks slammed into the its back with the force of a freight train, blasting LEGO blocks off in all directions and sending the youma flying into the wall.

As the youma began to recover from the attack, a blond haired girl with her hair done up in two odangos with long pony tails stepped up and leveled a short pink wand at the youma. Sailor Moon made a few elegant and hypnotic moves with the wand and shouted "Moon Gorgeous Meditation!" A beam pure white light was emitted from the wand, piercing straight through the youma, which promptly began to disintegrate into nothing more than a pile of ash.

A tall brunette in a green fuku with her hair tied in a pony-tail stepped up to the pile of ash and crossed her arms. "Awww, c'mon! That wasn't a challenge at all. I didn't even get to attack it!" The Senshi of Jupiter kicked the ash pile and continued to pout, as a cobalt haired girl took out a small palmtop computer and began typing furiously.

"You're right Jupiter. Saying that that youma was even as powerful as some of the very first breeds we encountered would be generous."

"Exactly." chimed in a raven haired girl in a red fuku. "There hasn't been an attack in months and suddenly one wakes me up in the middle of the night and I rush out for _this_!" She pointed to the pile of ashes. "It could have at least been a little more challenging. Talk about a complete waste of time." She crossed her arms and put on a face of pure annoyance.

"How can you say that Mars?!" Sailor Moon said as she walked up, a look of surprise on her face. "The fewer attacks the lower the chance of people being harmed, and that is our job. To protect everyone we can."

Mars visibly relaxed from her tirade and said, "Yea, I guess you're right Moon. Sorry I said that." She rubbed her hand on the back of her head.

"Good." Moon put a finger to her chin as she stared up at the star filled sky. "I do kind of miss being able to skip school because of the attacks though."

A familiar, _thud_, rumbled throughout the night as four defenders of love and justice faces suddenly had a strong attraction to the ground.

Sailor Venus was the first to recover, nursing her abused jaw, "Well since it is late let's go home and get some rest. I don't want to be late for school tomorrow."

Sailor Mars glared at her. "You're always late for school, along with meatball head here."

"Hey!"

"Yea well that doesn't mean that the Senshi of Love doesn't need her beauty sleep." Venus struck a cute pose with a hand on her hip and her other hand's pointer and middle fingers in a V-shape over eyes.

The five girls giggled then broke off to return to their respective homes.

From a building above Sailor Uranus and Neptune looked down on the scene. "Looks like we weren't needed this time," the Senshi of Neptune said with a look of amusement.

Uranus scowled. "Why do you look so happy? I agree with Mars, if a youma attack is going to wake us up in the middle of the night at least make it worth it." Uranus had a look of pure boredom and annoyance on her face which was never a good thing. "Now that I think about it, that's probably why Pluto didn't come, she most likely knew it wasn't worth it."

"Well why don't we head back to the house, there's obviously nothing left for us to do here. I have a big performance tomorrow so I need my sleep." Neptune stretched her arms into the air as she yawned.

"Yea this was a total waste of time, let's go."

The two Senshi jumped across the roofs of Juuban, heading back to their humble abode.

Once the coast was clear, a small shadowy figure appeared and quickly made its way to the pile of ash that used to be the LEGO youma. It reached in with a small, grimy black hand and removed a CD like object then disappeared into the night just as suddenly it appeared.

XXXX

Somewhere else, a cloaked figure sat in a chair in a dark room. Nothing showed through the shadows of the hood except his mouth and nose, of which looked like normal human feature.

Another figure entered the room, this one smaller and feminine looking. "M' lord. The data from the scout youma has arrived without any complications." It was a soft, but strong voice, one that could be commanding one moment, but comforting the next. From its robes the woman removed the CD that was in the pile of ashes. "We have analyzed the data and have yielded these results. Average power level of targets was Alpha-Alpha-Gamma-14. Agility level Gamma-Beta-4. Intelligence level Beta-Gamma-Beta-3. Endurance level. . ." it continued listing different statistic that you would expect of a soldier, categorizing them in the same unknown way. The large form on the chair nodding at each statistic.

The feminine figure finished its report and looked at its lord. "Very well." The man spoke. Its voice sounding like it had the authority to command mountains to move. "These figures are lower than we anticipated. We should be able to win the coming battles easily enough. Begin production of the attack youmas. Use the results acquired to modify them in any way necessary. We begin our first assault in T-minus 7 days."

"Yes m' lord." And with that, the women extended an arm in front of itself forming a dark portal. It disappeared into the portal to begin the necessary preparations.


	2. Chapter 1: I Need a Vacation

Author's Notes: Ok I lied, since I got a review the day I posted the prologue and two story alerts I decided that I would just go ahead and post this chapter for now since the prologue had little to nothing in ti. This chapter actually gets the story going so enjoy. For some reason my computer lost this chapter so I had to have my friend who I sent it to re e-mail a possibly older version back to me. But it looks the same so I'm just gonna go ahead and post it.

Oh and I forgot to put in a disclaimer last time. I don't own Ranma or Sailor Moon yadda yadda yadda you get the picture on with the fic.

Chapter 1: I Need a Vacation

It was 1 o'clock in the morning in the Nerima district and Ranma Saotome tossed and turned in his futon as he suffered through what seemed to be a nightmare.

*FLASH*

Blood

*FLASH*

A little girl's voice. "MOMMY!"

*FLASH*

Evil laughter

*FLASH*

Fire. Burning buildings

*FLASH*

She was on her knees in front of a burning village. Wait a sec, "She?" It didn't matter as it seemed her body moved on its own. She staggered to her feet and limped over to one of the burning buildings. Inside was a man. He was engulfed in flames but did not seem to be affected by it. He held a sword that was as dark as the night sky and grinned at her as he slowly stalked towards her, an evil glint in his blood red eyes. She couldn't move, her entire body was paralyzed by some force. The man stopped in front of her and his grin seemed to grow. "You've done well," he said, "You were the perfect tool for my plan. Your power is that which comes around once in an eon and you used it marvelously." He gestured to his surroundings to prove his point, and then focused his gaze on her again. "Given time you would have been a force to be reckoned with."

He raised his sword above his head, ready to swing down at any moment to end her life. She could feel tears running down her cheeks and, looking up, see her own disheveled reflection in the darkness of the blade. Her surroundings seemed to fade away, leaving just her and the man, her eyes transfixed on the sword. "You will not have that time, however. This part of my plans has been completed and I no longer have any use for you." His grin disappeared and was replaced with a glare that just screamed death.

"Goodbye. My student." The sword came down.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ranma shot straight up in his futon breathing heavily and in a cold sweat.

"What. . . the hell. . . was that?" He panted out. A quick check of his body showed that he still had all his body parts. "I need a vaca-" he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as a wooden sign reading "KEEP QUIET!" wielded by a panda came down over Ranma's head, knocking him out cold. The panda put its sign away and quickly fell into a blissful sleep again, snoring the entire time.

XXXX

The rest of the night went on without incident and soon Ranma was thrown out of bed, and out the window for his morning spar with his father. Ranma woke up in mid-air and did a somersault, landing on one of the rocks surrounding the koi pond.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you after that commotion you caused last night boy!" shouted Genma after he landed on the other side of the yard.

"I wouldn't have it any other ways pops," leaped at Genma. Soon both Ranma and Genma were engaged in fierce air borne combat, throwing kicks, punches, and other attacks almost invisible to the eye. After a few seconds of this the broke away and again landed on opposite sides of the yard, neither with so much as a drop a sweat.

"You're getting sloppy boy! How do you expect to carry on the school with that form?" Genma yelled as he took another attack stance.

Ranma smirked. "Says you old man!" and once again launched himself at Genma. Genma evaded and blocked most of his attacks and soon found a hole in Ranma's defense.

"Show some respect for your father!" and promptly let loose a brutal axe kick onto Ranma's head, sending him straight into the koi pond. Genma landed next to the pond and crossed his arms. "That's what happens when you disturb my sleep BWAHAHAHA!" As the now female Ranma surfaced she sent a splash directly at the chuckling, balding man. A short second later and a drenched panda and red-headed girl stood in the Tendo backyard.

Kasumi's voice rang out from inside the house. "Ranma. Mr. Saotome. Breakfast is ready." If there was one thing that Ranma could look forward to at the Tendo's, is was the meals. Ranma and the panda quickly made the ways towards the dining room table where as usual, Mr. Tendo was reading the newspaper, Kasumi was busily running back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room setting the table, Nabiki sat looking unemotional, and Akane already sitting at the table. The next time Kasumi emerged from the kitchen, she handed a kettle of hot water to Ranma.

"Thanks Kasumi."

"It is my pleasure Ranma," and took her seat at the table.

After the group had eaten for a few minutes, Nabiki looked up from her plate and asked in her usual monotonic voice, "So Saotome, what was with that scream last night? It was loud enough to wake the dead."

After smacking away a pair of chopsticks, Ranma answered, "Oh that? It was nothin'. Just a bad dream."

"Oh my." One guess as to who said that, "Do you want to talk about it Ranma?"

"Nah, I'm fine. It was just a dream. We all have 'em." Nabiki raised an eyebrow but decided it wasn't worth probing any further.

Ranma finished his breakfast and stood up to get ready for school when Akane called out to him, "Hey Ranma, when I'm done could you spar with me a little before we go to school?"

"Yea sure just give me a sec to get ready 'k?" After Saffron's attack, Ranma had decided to take Akane's martial arts training more seriously so she can protect herself if danger ever arises around her again (and he's pretty sure it will with him around). Since then she has improved surprisingly well. She's definitely not as good as Shampoo or Ukyo yet but that may not be the case in a few months. Ranma has even decided that she may be ready to learn the Kachu Tenshin Amuguriken soon.

A few minutes later, and Ranma and Akane were in the dojo clad in their karate gis. As usual, Akane made the first move and, as usual, Ranma exposed all the holes in her defenses.

"Arms up! Protect your face"

"Don't leave your sides open!"

"Over here."

For each hole that Ranma found, he followed up with a quick punch or kick to the area. Ranma almost has this routine memorized as Akane became more and more angry with each correction. She was soon red in the face and her punches came at a faster rate, at which point Ranma switched to correcting her attacks.

"Point your feet in the direction you're attacking."

"You leave yourself open after attacking. Recover faster."

"Was that aimed at me?"

The last comment sent Akane over the edge. A mallet appeared in her hands and wound up. "RANMA YOU JERK!"

WHAM!

Yup, nothing has changed. Ranma has even become so skilled as to aim himself towards school once airborne. "Hm, nice weather we have today," he mused to himself before coming crashing down on the ground in front of Furinkan, the passing students not even stopping to look at the newly created crater as this had become a common occurrence. In fact, there wasn't many things that the students of Furinkan will find weird nowadays. This school has, almost quite literally, seen it all.

Ranma pulled himself out of the crater and dusted himself off as if nothing had happened. After drop-kicking the approaching blue hakama wearing lunatic, he headed inside to his homeroom where undoubtedly he would be drained of Ki for his "delinquency." Yea, things definitely haven't changed.

XXXX

That night, Nabiki was lying on her stomach on her bed reading her manga. Her dad and Mr. Saotome were out, no doubt getting drunk, Akane was in the dojo, and Kasumi was cleaninn up from the dinner. Now was one of the very few moments when she could get some peace and quiet. Until there was a knock at the door and she rolled her eyes. The people of this household just don't understand what a closed door means. "Go away. I'm busy," she grumbled. The door opened anyways.

She turned her annoyed look to see one cursed, pig-tailed martial artist standing at her doorway. He better have a good reason for barging into her room or his next week was going to be hell. "I said I'm busy Saotome. Get out of my room."

"This'll be worth your time Nabiki. I promise."

_It better be_. She thought. Nabiki sighed and said, "Fine, what do you want?"

Closing the door behind him, Ranma walked in, "A vacation."

Nabiki blinked. "A what?"

"A vacation. Y'know, when you go somewhere else to get away from your normal life and-"

"Yea, yea. I know what a vacation is." She said while waving her hands in front of her, "But why do you want to have one so suddenly? As far as I know, your life has been pretty regular lately."

"That's exactly why I want to."

Now Nabiki was confused, but she didn't show it on her face. She didn't want Ranma to ruin of Ice Queen reputation after all. "What do you mean?" was all she could say.

"I mean that every day, I get malleted across Nerima, change sexes at least once, groped by a Chinese Amazon fruit cake, have my Ki drained, and have at least one challenge from someone I don't even know! It's gotten old real fast and I need a change of pace. I'm not sayin' I want it all to go away, just that I needa break and I need it bad."

Nabiki knew he was telling the truth. She could see the built-up annoyance and frustration from years of bull shit in his blue eyes. If there was one physical feature that could describe Ranma in an instant, it was his eyes. The big blue orbs clearly expressed how he was feeling like night and day.

"Ok. I get where you're coming from now but why did you come to me?"

"For two reasons actually." He held up his left pointer finger, "One. If there is anyone on this planet that can track me down, it's you. I have my ways of avoidin' the old ghoul and everyone else is nothin'. But you, you have the high-school information network equivalent of the Yakuza. Eventually, you _would _find me."

Nabiki smirked. This was a great compliment coming from the person who can practically render himself invisible. But he was right. No matter where Ranma went in the world, she would have an informant there that would report to her almost instantly. Ranma couldn't hide from her, even if he changed his looks and got rid of his curse, his mannerisms and martial arts prowess are a dead give-away.

Ranma held up his middle finger next. "And two, I need someone to keep the others off my trail. As soon as they notice that I split, they're gonna come straight to you for information. I dunno how but you always get the results you want without lying and I'm hopin' that you can do that for me. Especially the old ghoul, if she finds me it's all over." He put down his fingers and looked at Nabiki again. "So, Nabiki. Will you help me?"

Nabiki was stunned. Ranma Saotome, the big, macho, cocky martial artist who never asks for help was asking for her to help him. Once again, she didn't show he shock on her face and replied calmly. "Work doesn't come free Saotome, and I doubt you have the pay."

Ranma grinned. "I thought you'd say that. So I came with what I think is a good price." He pulled out of his pocket what seemed to be a large stack of photos bound by a rubber band. He tossed them to Nabiki who gave Ranma a questioning look. What is he trying to pull? Payment is in cash not some random photos that—.

Nabiki stopped mid-thought as she saw the first photo. It was of Ranma's girl form in extremely lacy lingerie clothing pretending to blow a kiss at the camera. The next was of her in a play-boy bunny suit making a cute pose.

As Nabiki flipped through the stack of photos you could practically see the money signs in her eyes. The stack had a total of 37 pictures, each one different than the last. She could sell these to the biggest perverts at school for at least 10,000 yen each, even more if it's Kuno.

After flipping through the last of the photos, she wrapped the rubber band around them and placed them in her desk drawer. She looked back at Ranma and gave him her trademark cat-like smile that meant she was thinking one of her money-making plans. "I accept your payment."

Ranma's face lit up with excitement as he jumped for joy, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling.

"However," Ranma completely froze doing his happy dance and craned his head to Nabiki.

"However?" he managed to spit out.

"I have some information that I think you should know before you leave."

Ranma let out a great sigh of relief, "Oh, that all? I thought you were gonna—hey wait a sec. Is this gonna cost me anythin'?" He gave a scrutinizing glare at Nabiki who wasn't phased in the least.

"Not a single yen. Call it compensation for all the other times I black-mailed you."

"You make it sound like being black-mailed is a good thing," Ranma sweat-dropped.

"Details. Who needs 'em? Anyways this is serious, I honestly believe you should know this." Nabiki put on her business face and when she does that, she is _dead_ serious.

Still a little shook up that Nabiki was giving away information for free, Ranma nodded, "Ok, I'm listening."

Nabiki gestured to her desk chair, "Take a seat. This might take a while." Ranma did so. "Ok, you know how ever since you were born, chaos just seemed to folloew you everywhere you went correct?"

"Of course. That's why I wanna go on vacation." He crossed his arms in a clearly annoyed way.

"Well, since you came here, and that chaos seems to affect everyone around you, I decided to do a little research."

"Research?" Ranma had a puzzled look on his face. "What is there to research? My life is just crazy. It just happens that way by coincidence. I don't get it.

"Yea well just the fact that that chaos affected me for two whole years was enough convincing for me. Anyways, don't interrupt again and just listen." Nabiki glared at him, which made Ranma feel like he was shrinking. "Now if I had found this out before you came here, I would have filed this away as complete crap and moved on. Now after what I've seen, I'm ready to believe almost anything. What I found was about the Chains of Fate."

"Chains of-" Ranma was cut off by a glare from Nabiki and whimpered.

"As I was saying, the Chains of Fate are what controls our lives. There's the chain the binds us to responsibility, to honor, and, although it sounds corny but, each other. All of them are attached to our very soul." Nabiki went over to her desk drawer again and pulled out a diagram of a human with multiple chains attached to its chest and going in different directions and ending at different words like "honor" and "family". "When there comes a point in your life for a decision, one or more of these chains tug on your soul to influence your decision. Some chains are stronger than others so thus if two chains are influencing you at once, the stronger one will win and you will go in the direction so to speak."

Nabiki used both of her hands to pull on the diagram in opposite directions. At first it seemed like the paper was going to tear but then it slowly starting moving to her left. "Like this. Since I was pulling harder with my left hand than my right, the paper moves to my left. Simple right? Well, it seems that you have an abnormal set of the Chains of Fate."

"Abnormal? Waddaya mean?"

Nabiki closed her eyes and continued, "I mean that your chain that binds you to chaos is exceptionally stronger than all your other ones. Your next strongest is honor. So wherever you go, whenever you come to a fork in the road, your chain that binds you to chaos will force you to go where the chaos is. There is no fighting it and there is nothing you can do to nullify it. You can only live out your hectic life. So in short Ranma, even if you go on vacation, you won't be able to escape the craziness that is your life. At best you will only meet a brand new kind of chaos."?

Nabiki finished her lecture and opened her eyes to see Ranma with his head drooped down looking fairly depressed. Then a grin appeared on his face, which grew to a smile, then Ranma was on his feet laughing like Kuno.

"HA HA HA HA HA! I can't believe it. This couldn't be any more perfect!"

This time Nabiki couldn't hide her confusion. She had just told Ranma the information that says he'll never be able to escape the chaos yet here he was saying that it was perfect? From what she could tell, and she can tell a lot, he wasn't being sarcastic either. He was genuinely happy that he'll never have a normal moment in his life. What gives? This was weird, even for Ranma.

"Huh?" She managed to stutter. "How come you're so happy? I thought you would be grieving that you would never get a moments peace maybe even decide to run away because you were fed up with it all not this."

"That's exactly why I'm happy."

"…"

"Lemme explain. I enjoy the chaos of my life. I may seem to hate it at times but I can't imagine my life without it. It keeps life interesting and without it, I would probably go crazy from boredom in a few days. I never really wanted to get away from it. So if what you just told me is true, then I'll never be bored. My life will stay interesting until I die."

Nabiki still had the dumb-founded look on her face, "That doesn't make any sense. If you never wanted the chaos to go away in the first place then why did you want to go on a vacation to get away from it all in the first place?! You even said you wanted to get away from your normal life."

Ranma was still grinning from ear to ear when he replied, "I did say that, and I do want to get away from my normal life for a bit. But not 'cuz I want it to go away, but 'cuz it's becomin' old and boring. So I decided that if I went somewhere else, something fresh and exciting might happen. If your information is correct then I will run into chaos down the road and it's likely to be a different kind. It's almost too perfect to believe!" Ranma collapsed on the floor as he had another fit of laughter, Nabiki just staring at him.

After a few more minutes of laughing, Ranma finally calmed down enough to stand up again.

Ranma looked back at Nabiki, "I do have one question though," he said.

Nabiki was finally recovering from the last few minutes and said, "After that act, I don't think you can surprise me anymore. Go ahead."

"Where the hell did you find that stuff out?! I don't even think the old ghoul knows this stuff!"

Nabiki relaxed, being comforted that the conversation is back in her field, "Tsk, tsk ,tsk, Ranma. You've forgotten who you are talking to. Remember, my information network is the high school equivalent of the Yakuza's."

"But still. . . Anyways once I leave, I'll need a way to keep in touch with you just in case somethin' comes up. Got any ideas?"

"Oh that's easy I'll just have one of my informants contact you wherever you're going. By the way, where _are _you going?

Ranma grinned, "The Ice Queen of Furinkan High should be able to find that out easily huh?"

"Well put, but can you at least tell me when you're leaving and how long you'll be gone?"

"I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning; I've already got my stuff packed." Nabiki made a mental note that Ranma just unconsciously gave away that he expected her to say yes. "As for how long I'll be gone, umm 'bout a year maybe."

"A YEAR!" This was truly a strange day. Nabiki couldn't remember another time when she was dumb-founded this many times in one day.

"Yea a year," Ranma continued casually, "maybe shorter if wanna come back but that's 'bout how long I think I'll be gone."

"Ok, ok fine but you do understand that keeping everyone in the dark for a year is next to impossible right?"

"That's why I want you to stay in contact with me. If you know that anyone is comin' to me, let me know as soon as possible and I'll try to find a way to deal with 'em."

"Alright it makes since." Kami-sama these last few minutes had given her a headache. She needed a Tylenol. "For this to work I need you to do one thing for me though."

Ranma's mood dropped again, "Uh oh." _This can't be good._ He thought.

"Don't worry it's nothing big I just need you to say something."

"It's not something girly is it?"

"Do you want my cooperation or not?" Nabiki leveled a glare at Ranma which promptly shut him up. Nabiki took out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled something on it and handed it to Ranma. She pointed to it and said, "Just read that out loud exactly how it's written."

Ranma gave Nabiki a strange look then read the note. "'I am going to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, United States for a training trip.' What's this for?" He dropped the paper in utter confusion.

"Don't worry Ranma this won't hurt you in any way. It's just like a security measure for me if it comes down to it."

Ranma was still confused but said, "Well, as long as it doesn't affect me that's fine. Well, I guess that's it. Thanks again. This'll make things much easier for me. You sure you can handle it?"

Nabiki glared at Ranma and once again, he felt himself shrink. "Ok, ok I'm sorry I asked."

With that, Ranma got up and headed for the door. As he was opening it he stopped and turned back to Nabiki. He scratched the back of his head and had a goofy grin on his face, "Um, hehe, could I, um, have some money to get started with? I'll find a job once get to where I wanna go."

Nabiki sighed and rolled her eyes, "Well considering the fortune that I'm going to make selling these photos," Ranma cringed at the word, "photos", "I suppose I could give you this much." She reached into her pocket and retrieved her wallet. From it she pulled out 500,000 yen and handed it to Ranma. "This should be able to get you through the first few months of where you're staying. After that you need to be sure to get a job of some sort."

Ranma pocketed the money and turned again to leave, "Thanks again Nabiki. You were a huge help," and left, closing the door on his way out.

Nabiki stared at the closed door for another few seconds and let out a huge sigh. She rubbed her temples and mumbled, "Ok so where was that Tylenol again?

XXXX

Makoto Kino was just coming back to her apartment after hanging out with her friends when she passed by the landlord and couldn't help overhearing his conversation on his cell phone.

". . .Yes. . .Mhm. . .Mhm. . .So I'll see you tomorrow then?. . .Alright see you then." He hung up the phone and turned to see Makoto.

"Who was that Toshiro?" Makoto asked

"Oh that was a young man who's going to be staying in one of the apartments tomorrow. One Ranma Saotome I think."

_Oooo a guy. I wonder if he's a hunk._ She thought. You could practically see the hearts in her eyes.

Toshiro just stared at her, "Well it's getting late now. Good night now Makoto." And he turned and went into his flat, leaving Makoto still standing on the stairwell, daydreaming about boyfriends.


	3. Chapter 2: New Possibilities

Author's Notes: Ok due to Sagitarius's very passionate review, I've decided that I will update this fic as I write it instead of waiting until I finish it. Just a few things, I'll post Chapter 3 one week from now. That's 9/19/09.

Also, I write VERY slowly, I mean I just started my Junior year of high school you can't blame me. I've started Chapter 4 already today but I'm very busy and don't quite know for sure what is going to be in it. I wanted to finish the entire thing that way I could still make major changes in previous chapters if I needed to, but seeing as I haven't so far. . . yea. I'll sacrifice video games for the time being to get this done so you better respect my resolve xD. Once I finish Vandread, I'll drop anime also.

One last thing, I'll say this now, I HATE it when good fics aren't finished so I will do everything in my power to see this through to the end. Well, that's about it for my ranting so knowing all of this might put some of your anxieties to rest I hope. Usual disclaimer here, on with the story. Hope you like it. Oh, sorry one more thing. My good friend and pre-reader is also making a story called _The Wild Horse and The Dragon_ and he would love it if you checked it out. You may even see some parallelisms between our stories despite the completely different plots.

It was 2:30 in the morning when Ranma Saotome jumped out of his bedroom window and onto a nearby rooftop. Shrouded in the cloak of the Umi-sen ken, he silently made his way towards his destination. "See ya in about a year guys," he said to himself as he looked behind his shoulder. Although he knew in the back of his mind that he would most likely see them sooner than that.

The Only Constant

Chapter 2: New Possibilities

It was a Sunday morning in Juuban, as Makoto got up early for her weekly martial arts training. She headed for the open lot behind the apartments where she goes every Sunday morning.

Haruka may be better than her at the art, but that didn't mean she was about to give up on it completely. Being a Senshi just makes it even more important. She believes that the Inner Senshi, including herself, rely too much on their magical powers to win their battles. Whenever a youma is quick and agile, it would normally easily dodge their magical attacks, then get in close and pummel them at close range. That's when the Outers usually come in and take it out with relative ease. That's why she believes she should still practice in the art. So that at least she could be ready for encounters like that.

Makoto was in the middle of her warm-up stretches when she saw a boy about her age walking in her direction. He had black hair tied back into a short pig-tail and was wearing a red chinese shirt with black pants. He was very muscular and seemed to exude an aura of confidence. Being Makoto the first words that came to mind were, _He looks just like my old boyfriend._

Ranma walked into the open lot and saw a girl there stretching. Maybe she could tell him where his new apartment was.

"Hey there," Ranma called out in his typical greeting, raising his hand up.

"Um. . .hi." Makoto blushed and looked away. _What a hunk._

Ranma looked at the girl in front of him in a confused way. Why was she blushing? Was something showing that he didn't notice?

A quick body check revealed nothing out of the ordinary so he continued.

"Do ya think you could tell me where Toshiro Apts. are? I'm sorta lost here." Ranma handed Makoto a piece of paper with "Toshiro Apts." along with its address on it.

Makoto took the piece of paper and blinked, then pointed at the large sign above them that read "Toshiro Apts."

A sweat drop rolled off of Ranma's head. "Wow, that's somethin' Ryoga would do. Well thanks anyways," and started walking off.

"Wait!" Makoto yelled back to him.

Ranma stopped and turned around, "Yea? Ya need somethin'?

"Um. . . you're Ranma Saotome right?

A smile broke across the pig-tailed martial artist's face and he poked his chest with his thumb as he replied, "That's me. Ranma Saotome, martial arts extraordinaire." Then Ranma blinked. "When'd I ever learn that word?"

Makoto sweat-dropped, then held out her hand. "Makoto Kino. I live in these apartments too and do some martial arts as well."

Ranma shook her hand and gave his trademark cocky grin, "Nice to meet'cha. I'll need a sparring partner later so maybe we could go at it sometime but for now, I've come a long way in a short time and just wanna get to my room and settle down."

"Oh, let me take you there. I can introduce you to Toshiro-san and he'll show you to your room."

"Thanks um. . . Kino-san was it?"

"Oh just call me Makoto." Laughing nervously, Makoto suddenly found the ground very interesting as she directed her gaze towards it.

Ranma, recognizing the signs, had only one thought, _Oh Kami-sama, PLEASE not another fiancée._

XXXX

The rest of the day almost proceeded without incident. Toshiro showed Ranma to his new apartment which was in better shape than the cursed boy expected. It was simple design with nothing special. A bedroom, a kitchen, and a bathroom. There was only a couch, futon, and a small TV for furniture but that was really all he needed. Obviously the apartment was smaller than the Tendo dojo but the fact that he was living here by himself was still a little unbelievable for him.

After Ranma finished unpacking the little belongings he had brought along, he decided to go explore the city since he was unfamiliar with it. He found the school which he'll be attending. Even Ranma knew he can't go a whole year without any education, so he enrolled to Juuban High to at least retain what little knowledge he had. Hell, maybe he could actually learn something if there wasn't a ki draining vampire and a Hawaiian crazed principal.

Surprisingly, when he called the main office earlier, his school records had already been transferred from Furinkan. Apparently courtesy of some counselor named Setsuna or some other. It didn't really matter since whoever it was saved Ranma a lot of trouble. He won't have to make up some weird name now.

Ranma was on his way back to his apartment feeling confident that he knew the layout of the city pretty well when-

SPLASH!

The wet red-headed girl swore that those old ladies with the ladles had some kind of cult to always locate and drench her. At least she was already on her way home; she could get some hot water there.

Home? She's stayed here for less than a day and she already thinks of it as home. Ranma smiled at the thought. It was because this was her new home for a year. She had never really thought of the Tendo Dojo as home because she was just freeloading off of them. Now she was on her own, and had to provide for herself. Ranma still wasn't sure that she can pull this off but that was part of the fun.

XXXX

Makoto had decided to bake a batch of cookies for Ranma just as a little house-warming gift. Ok maybe it wasn't _just _a house-warming gift. After all, the fastest way to a boy's heart is through his stomach.

Walking to her new beloved's apartment, Makoto hummed a song to herself when she saw an aggravated looking red-headed girl enter Ranma's room. Makoto dropped the tray of cookies she was carrying with a look of disappointment as the realization hit her.

"Man, he must already have a girlfriend. Rats! How come all the hunks are always taken?"

She was about to go back to her room when she changed her mind and decided to confirm her fear. She picked up the tray of cookies and knocked on Ranma's door. When said boy answered he looked a little frazzled and, was that steam coming off of him?

"Uh. . . hi Ranma I baked these cookies for you as a welcome gift. I hope you like them." Makoto thrust the tray of cookies in front of Ranma's face whose mood immediately seemed to lift at the sight of them.

"Ah awesome! Thanks Makoto!" and took the tray and started to devour them.

Makoto looked away for a few seconds to think of what to say next and was surprised when she turned back to see that Ranma had finished all the cookies.

She blinked at the sight or, lack of a sight. There had been at least two dozen, medium sized cookies on there and Ranma had just seemed to inhale all of them in about ten seconds.

While Ranma picked at the last few crumbs on the platter, Makoto started pushing her two index fingers together and asked, "So. . . Uh. . . Ranma, I saw a red-headed girl enter your room a few minutes ago, and she had a key. Do you have any relation to her by chance?" Ranma froze up and failed to respond. "So it is that way huh?" Her fear confirmed. Great.

Ranma came back to life and frantically waved his hands in front of him. "Nononononononono! Itsnotlikethatatallreallydon'tmisunderstand!" Ranma stopped to catch his breath and continued at a normal pace, a flustered look on his face, "That was. . .uh. . .my sister. Yea that's it! Yea, she's my sister. . .um. . .Ranko! She's visiting me, but she's really shy so you won't see much of her hehe."

Makoto was a little suspicious but still relieved. Game on! "Oh, in that case let me introduce myself to her. I'd be glad to meet her." She started through the doorway.

"No no no. You can't do that." Ranma said while blocking Makoto's advance through the door. "Ranko is. . .um. . . sleeping right now. You don't wanna wake her up right?"

"Well, maybe some other time then?" Makoto asked, still trying to enter.

"That won't be necessary. Like I said she's really shy. Oh, would you look at the time," Ranma looked at an imaginary wrist watch, "My favorite show is on. Gotta go, see ya tomorrow Makoto-chan." He slammed and locked the door.

Makoto stood and stared at the closed door for a few seconds. "He called me Makoto-chan." Turning away from the door, Makoto's pupils turned into hearts as she skipped back to her room.

XXXX

That night Ranma slept surprisingly well. Not having a 500 pound panda snoring at the same volume as a thunderstorm really makes a difference. Who knew?

He woke up and made himself a quick breakfast. He had packed enough food to last about a week, so he would need to go grocery shopping soon. Groceries meant spending money. Money comes from a job, which Ranma still hasn't found. If he doesn't find a job in about a month, he would be scrambling for supplies. Ranma didn't want to have to resort to using the Umi-sen ken for its original purpose.

Since it was his first day at his new school, Ranma didn't do his full morning workout. Instead, he just stretched and did a couple of katas. Ranma needed his morning katas like an adult needs their daily cup of joe. If he doesn't work through at least one kata in the morning, Ranma can't function throughout the rest of the day and the way his life goes, that would be a very bad thing. So even if the world is about to collapse, the Ranma will always try to get that one kata in at the start of every day.

Warmed up and ready for the day, the pig-tailed martial artist gathered his school supplies and headed out. Outside that apartment, Ranma saw Makoto who seemed to have been waiting for him.

She came up to him with a cheerful look on her face, "Since it's your first day at this school I thought I could show you around."

"Thanks Makoto. I already know where the school is but I dunno where the office or anything else is inside the school." Ranma started walking to his left when Makoto stopped him.

"Don't go that way," she said. "There's a faster way through there." She pointed to Ranma's right.

"Oh, thanks. Jeez, I'm becoming more like Ryoga each day." Makoto wanted to ask who this Ryoga person was but decided to save it for later.

On the way to school, Ranma and Makoto talked about their lives and asked about the other's. Both heavily censoring their stories with Ranma's; the curses, and Makoto's; the Senshi. This left Ranma's martial arts and Makoto's fights at her old school.

"That reminds me; you said you practice martial arts right?" Ranma asked after Makoto finished her story about her old school.

"Yea, I've always used it as a kind of stress reliever. I'm not that great though. My friend Haruka can wipe the floor with me any day." Makoto replied with a slightly annoyed look.

"Well I'll have'ta see both of you in action one of these days. Maybe we could spar a little too." The pair came up to the gates of Juuban High, "Wow that was faster. Can you show me where the main office is?"

"Yeah sure thing."

In the main office, Ranma received his school schedule and uniform. After a _very_ intense argument though, he convinced the office to let him wear his own clothes. He had some help from his new counselor though, Setsuna Meiou. The green-haired women seemed to really emphasize for Ranma to see her about _anything, _which freaked Ranma out to some extent. It gave him the feeling she was stalking him.

After the office, Ranma headed to his homeroom class which was, surprise, the same as Makoto's.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today," the teacher said. "His name is Ranma Saotome and he comes from the Nerima district. Please give him a warm welcome." _The typical teacher introduction_, Ranma thought.

"Hey there." Ranma said while waving his hand.

Ranma sighed when he saw the sparkles in all the girls' eyes and the fire in the boys'. Some things you just can't change.

Ranma took his seat between a short blue-haired girl who had her head buried in a book and an empty desk. At least it seemed like he wouldn't have to deal with the people sitting around him.

"Now class today's lesson is—"

"Sorry we're late!" two synchronized voices shouted as two blonde haired girls burst through the door. One had a strange twin pony-tail hairstyle and the other just had it flow down her back. Ranma noticed how a majority of the girls, including the one next to him, sighed and rolled their eyes.

"Aino-san and Tsukino-san! How many times are you going to be late until you finally learn to get here on time?!" yelled the teacher. "Take your seats, and you have detention after class!"

The two blondes hung their heads down and slowly slumped over to their appointed seats, the blonde with the free flowing hair sitting in the empty seat next to Ranma. She didn't even seem to notice him so he ignored her for now. It wasn't until class was half-way over, and Ranma was half-way to dreamland, when something eventful happened.

"Hey Ami do you have the notes from—" the blonde stopped mid-sentence as she turned and saw Ranma. "AHHHHHHH!" She jumped out of her seat and fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Aino-san what is the problem?" The teacher said in a clearly annoyed tone.

"Who's this guy here? I've never seen him before in my life. Is he a stalker? He just appeared out of now where. Is he single?" The last question drew a stare from the entire class, and a worried look from Ranma. "Oops! Did I say that last one out loud?" She put a hand to her mouth and giggled.

"If you were here on time Aino-san you would know that he is a new student here named Ranma Saotome. Now take your seat and don't interrupt my class again!"

"Yes sensei." Minako sat back down and was quiet the rest of the class.

The remainder of the class went on without interruption. That means there was nothing to keep Ranma from falling asleep, but luckily for him, he fell asleep just as the bell rang so he wasn't caught on his first day. That would have been bad.

While Ranma was walking out of the door, he felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned around to see a geeky looking boy with large glasses. One could say he looked liked the intelligent version of Mousse in a weird way.

"Ranma Saotome, I've been asked to give you this note as soon as possible." The boy handed a piece of paper to Ranma.

"Uh, thanks?" Ranma said, slightly confused

"No problem." And the boy turned and left.

"Huh that was weird." Ranma shrugged and opened the note and started to read.

_Child's play Saotome._

"Well that was fast," Ranma muttered. He really should have expected this.

_After reading that first sentence I assume you know who I am so there is no need for me to identify myself in case this letter was intercepted. Moving on, the people you left behind are just realizing that you're gone. They're not panicking quite yet as they believe you were just challenged or went on a short training trip. It won't be long, however, until they start becoming suspicious._

_The boy who gave you this note is my informant. He is our communication line with each other. Anything you need from me you tell to him as discreetly as possible and he will relay the information to me. The same goes for me as well. If I need to tell you something, it will come from him. That is all for now. Ciao._

_P.S. Thanks for the photos. I've already made 300,000 yen off the first 10._

Ranma finished reading the note, cringing at the last sentence. He folded it up again and put it in his pocket. He might need it for later.

XXXX

It was lunch time, the best time of the day. Strike that. Second best time of the day next to dinner time. Makoto took Ranma to a tree where three other girls were sitting. He recognized all three from class.

The blonde from earlier jumped up from her position and ran over to Ranma.

"Hey there," she greeted, "Sorry about that scene I made in class today. I'm Minako Aino, and you're Ranma Saotome right?" Minako held out her hand.

"Yeah, I'm Ranma Saotome, Anything Goes martial artist. Nice ta meetch'a." Ranma replied and shook her hand.

Makoto walked up and gave Minako a drained look, "You really need to learn to get to school on time Minako, and you too Usagi."

"Well it's not my fault that my alarm doesn't work every morning," piped Usagi. "Besides, the two mile sprint is the only exercise I get every day. How do you expect me to keep this lovely figure without it?" She struck a cute pose, eliciting giggles from the other girls.

"Well if you actually worked out on your own time once in a while that wouldn't be a problem," the blue-haired girl said behind another book. "Oh, I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Ami. Ami Mizuno, it's a pleasure to meet you Ranma-san." Ami stood up and bowed to Ranma who returned the gesture.

"And I'm Usagi Tsukino. I'm the—"

*Beep. Beep. Beep.*

Usagi was interrupted by Ami's computer, who took it out and made a few quick strokes.

"Hey what's that thing?" asked Ranma

"It's my palmtop computer it—"

"Hey it took a picture of me. It's a pretty good one too."

Ami turned around and was startled to see Ranma looking over her shoulder. She eeped and jumped away while closing her computer, catching her breath. How did he get behind her so quickly without her noticing? He was at least three meters away.

"Sorry, didn't know it was somethin' you didn't want me ta see," Ranma said, looking a little embarrassed.

The other girls were also staring at Ranma, confused as to how he traversed the distance so quickly.

"No. No, it's quite alright. Just don't surprise me like that please," Ami replied, getting her breath back.

"Yeah, it's kinda of a habit of mine back home."

"Well as they say, 'Old habits live hard.'"

"That's 'die hard' Minako." Ami said while rolling her eyes.

"Oh, whatever does it really matter?" The whole group sighed.

"Coming back on topic, where did you live before this that required you to sneak up on people?" Usagi asked with a curious expression.

"The Nerima ward. You wouldn't_ believe_ the craziness that happens there."

"You might find that this place is hardly any different," Minako said.

Ranma grinned, "That's exactly what I was hopin' for."

Before the girls could question him a loud grumble came from Ranma's stomach.

"I guess we've been talkin' for too long. Time to eat."

"Mm-Hm!" the girls chorused.

Ranma made a motion to eat then froze. He rubbed his hand behind his head and laughed nervously. "Uh. . .hehe. . . I was so caught up 'bout school that I forgot to make lunch. Could you guys give me a little of yours?"

"Sure thing Ranma," Makoto said while opening her bento. "I make lunch for the entire group anyways so go ahead and help yourself."

"And I can't ignore such a hot guy going hungry." Everyone stared at Minako who sweat-dropped. "Oops, I said that out loud again didn't I?" She giggled.

"A new student should always be well nourished on his or her's first day of school so you can have some of mine." Ami said with a smile.

Everyone's gaze turned to Usagi. "What?!" she exclaimed. "You can't expect me to give away _my_ lunch."

The girls' gazes turned to glares of death.

"U-SA-GI!" they murmured together.

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Here Ranma." Usagi reluctantly removed a dumpling from her bento and handed it to Ranma. She was surprised to see the dumpling and all the food in front of Ranma just suddenly disappear. She looked up and saw Ranma wiping his mouth. _No way! Did he just eat all that food?!_ She thought.

Makoto leaned over to Ami and whispered, "He did the same thing with my cookies yesterday." Ami just nodded.

"Thanks guys. That'll last me 'till after school." Ranma patted his stomach and belched.

The girls stared for a good long second, except for Makoto who sighed.

The rest of lunch proceeded relatively normally. Makoto and Minako bombarding Ranma with questions, Ami buried in one of her books (although she would steal a glance at Ranma every now and then), and Usagi powering down her lunch. The girls insisted on showing Ranma around town, even though he said he had already gone through himself, so they agreed to meet after school. The bell sounded and the group broke to go to their classes.

XXXX

It was the end of the school day and the girls met at the back of the building to discuss Ami's computer report before meeting with Ranma.

"So Ami, what did your computer pick up?" Minako asked, a question shared by the rest of the girls.

"Well," Ami started while taking out her computer and made a few strokes, "While we were eating lunch my computer picked up an anomaly."

"An anoma-whaa?" Usagi asked, clearly confused.

"An anomaly, something out of the ordinary," Ami clarified. "It was centered around Ranma. It seemed there was some sort of strange aura around him."

Makoto asked, "Was it Dark Kingdom energy?"

"No, not at all." Makoto looked relieved at the answer. "Instead it's an energy that is in all living things, life energy. This is the energy that the Dark Kingdom tried to steal. What is strange is that he has a lot of it, and I mean a _massive_ amount."

"What's a massive amount?" asked Usagi

"About the equivalent amount of 1000 people's life energy put together," Ami answered casually.

"THAT MUCH!" the girls yelled in sync.

"Yes, now you see why it was such an anomaly. That picture of Ranma that he saw when he snuck behind me was my computer doing a scan on him to find out the cause. Luckily I think he thinks it was just a picture of him."

"A guy can get the wrong idea if you have a picture of him Ami," Minako said playfully.

Ami blushed, "A-anyways, there's more. My computer also picked up a very slight magical signature, the kind that requires a trigger to activate."

"Can it be dangerous?" Usagi asked; glad to be back in familiar territory.

"No, it is very weak and even when it is activated it lasts for a mere instant before receding again."

"So what should we do then?" Minako asked.

"Well, Ranma is staying at Makoto's apartments correct? Makoto, can you keep an eye on Ranma and see if you can discern anything strange about him?"

"Oh don't worry. I'll keep a _real _good eye on him. It's impossible for me not to when he looks so much like my old boy friend." Makoto said, causing the other girls to sigh.

"Well, now that that's settled," Ami started, first to recover, "let's go meet up with Ranma. I'm sure he has been waiting for a while now."

Minako perked up, "Alright let's go."

XXXX

The girls met up with Ranma and they left the school. Before they showed Ranma around, though, they picked up a raven-haired girl named Rei. Apparently she went to some kind of private school but was still friends with the rest of the girls.

Ranma was shown all the places that he had seen the day before but with a little information or antics this time around. For example, when the group passed by a game corner, Usagi just couldn't resist playing "a few games." How a "few games" turns into an hour is beyond Ranma.

At the park, the group took a little break to fill Rei in about Ranma, with a little "hint-hint-nudge-nudge" from the girls saying there was more later.

Then it happened. There was a roar coming from the other side of the park and the group ran to find an attacking youma, tearing up the surrounding area. The civilians had plenty of experience with youma attacks so they had already cleared out of the area. It didn't look like there was anyone left behind injured, drained, or dead.

What surprised the girls was that for once the youma actually looked menacing. It looked like a mini-Godzilla. It was about four meters tall with green scales, razor sharp teeth with saliva dripping of them, and a long tail spiked at the end. The girls shared a shiver at the sight of it.

"Jeez, I was hopin' to at least get _one_ day of peace before this happened," Ranma complained, cracking his knuckles. "Ah well, guess it can't be helped. You girls go an' take cover, I'll take care of this."

"Are you nuts?!" Rei yelled, looking incredulously at Ranma, "That things is a youma and can drain any unprepared civilian dry of their life energy! The standard procedure is to evacuate the area and let the Senshi handle it. There's NO WAY you can take it on!"

Ranma held up a finger, "One; I'm the best martial artist in the world. I've even defeated a demi-god before. I think I can handle a demon or two." He held up the next finger, "Two; I dunno who the Senshi are but I don't see 'em here so that thing is free to do as it wants." One last finger, "And three; Ranma Saotome never backs down from a challenge so get away NOW!"

Rei was about to object when Usagi pulled her aside and whispered, "You're not going to convince him. Let's just trust him to survive long enough for us to transform and come back here. It shouldn't take that long."

Rei crossed her arms and pouted, "Ok fine." She looked back at Ranma and yelled, "Just don't get hurt ok?"

"No problem, now go." The girls left the area and Ranma turned to the youma, "Hey ugly! Over here." The youma looked and saw Ranma. Seeing easy prey it charged at him, roaring all the way. Ranma grinned and muttered under his breath, "Let's dance."

XXXX

Not too far away, the girls ran into an alley to transform.

"Ok girls, let's transform and save Ranma before he gets hurt," Usagi commanded.

"Right!"

"MOON CRISIS POWER MAKE UP!"

"MARS CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!"

"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!"

"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!"

"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER MAKE UP!"

A few lightshows later, and five fully transformed magical girls stood in the alley.

"Alright let's go!" Sailor Moon commanded, and ran out of the alley towards the youma site, with the other senshi close behind.

_Ranma, please be alright. _Jupiter thought.

As they were nearing the tree line to the battle, the Senshi heard no noises or sounds of battle.

"This isn't good, it sounds like the youma has already incapacitated Ranma," Mercury said.

"All the more reason to hurry, c'mon!" urged Jupiter.

Breaking through the tree line, Sailor Moon started one of her trademark speeches, "Halt evil being! Parks are meant for the enjoyment and relaxation of—huh?" Moon was stopped dead in her monologue at the scene in front of her.

In front of the Senshi was one Ranma Saotome perfectly alive and perfectly uninjured. What's more, he was dusting his clothes off in front of a pile of powder.

"Man they just don't make demons the same way these days?" Ranma said in an uncaring tone.

"Don't tell me you beat that thing by yourself!?" said a voice behind Ranma.

"Yea I did. It's nothin' special just—" Ranma stopped when he turned around and saw the five girls standing there in different colored mini-skirts and fukus. His eyes widened and he put his hand to his mouth. Ranma tried desperately but he just couldn't hold it in he had to—.

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Who are you and what's with that get-up? That's gotta be the funniest thing I've ever seen! HAHAHAHA!" Ranma collapsed to the ground, rolling around laughing uncontrollably.

The Senshis' jaws hung. He was laughing at the Sailor Senshi? That didn't make sense.

Moon stepped up, showing one of her few moments of grace and poise, "My name is Sailor Moon, and these are the beautiful sailor suited warriors of love and justice. Together we are the Sailor Senshi and we—"

"BWAHAHAHA! Oh Kami-sama, I think I'm gonna die of laughter! Yea, yea Mrs. Kuno, but I think you left your husband behind in Furinkan." Ranma continued in his fit of laughter, trying again and again to stand back up but failing to do so. All the while, Mars's face grew redder and redder until it was almost the same color as her skirt.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" she finally screamed. "We've defended this city from evils time and again, evils that you can't even imagine! We're more than capable of handling these situations!"

Ranma finally got to his feet, still chuckling, "Not in those dresses you did. And I'm pretty sure I've had to deal with some pretty messed up things in my life. Why don't you go back home and play dress-up there." Ranma made a flicking gesture with his hand.

Mars was fuming now. "THAT'S IT! FIRE—"

"No Mars!"

"—SOUL!" The fireball shot from Mars's hand and headed straight towards Ranma. He gave it a bored look before lazily jumping over it and landing behind the Senshi of Fire, who he gave a light poke to the head.

Mars was stunned, along with all the other Senshi. _He just jumped over my attack. But that's impossible without magical aid! _She thought.

"Jeez, what was that?" Ranma teased. "Even Akane could've seen that one comin', and she can't even channel her Ki yet. Well, as much as I'd like to stay around and play with you little girls, I gotta find my friends who ran away from that monster. Later." And with that, Ranma jumped onto the nearest building and dashed away.

The Senshi continued to stare at the building that Ranma jumped onto until Jupiter whispered under her breath, "What is he?"

"He's human." Jupiter turned around and found Mercury already typing furiously on her computer. "What's even stranger is that the Mercury computer hasn't detected any magical signature whatsoever in this area."

"That means. . ." Moon started, understanding Mercury's implications.

"Yes, he defeated that youma with his bare hands with no magical aid at all."

"No way," Venus whispered.

"I agree, it should be impossible and is very puzzling. I'll look into the matter later but for now we need to go meet Ranma. He is looking for our civilian forms after all."

Jupiter snapped out her trance, "Oh yeah, that's right. Ok let's go."

A few minutes later, Ranma spotted the group of girls walking out of an alley. He jumped down from the building he was on and ran up to them. "Hey guys, you all ok?" he asked.

"Yea, we're fine," Usagi answered. "We managed to get away unnoticed."

"That's good." Ranma saw Rei in the back, whose face was beat red and glaring at him. "What's up with Rei?"

Usagi turned around and saw her friend, "Oh, um, she saw you laughing at the Sailor Senshi and she's a big fan so she's kind of mad at you."

"I couldn't help it, those outfits are ridiculous." Ranma blushed at the memory of the mini-skirts.

"You really shouldn't make fun of them," Minako said. "They've been protecting this city for a while now and haven't failed us yet."

"Yea, well I'll believe it when I see it and that fire ball the red one threw at me just proves my point."

The girls, settling that this was the best they would get from Ranma for now, decided to move on.

"Well, c'mon then. We've still got to show you the shrine where Rei lives," Makoto urged.

"Ok, lead the way."

The rest of the walk, there was no talking. The girls were too busy pondering over what had transpired, and Ranma was trying to see what was so special about these Sailor Senshi.

AN: Well there you have it, chapter 2 for your enjoyment. I'm not too sure about this chapter but I hope you liked it and that it met your expectations. Just a few things before I go.

Pairings: As of now, I don't know who, if I do, I will pair Ranma with. I can say though that it definitely won't be Usagi. I think she's too much of a cry-baby too much of the time that her little spurts of intelligence don't make up for it. That and I don't think she's that cute.

Tracking Ranma by School Record: I may be wrong on this but I think it's safe to assume that Nabiki can take care of that. That plus the fact that hardly any of Ranma's rivals are smart enough to check i.e. Ryoga.

If you haven't noticed yet, I haven't read the Sailor Moon manga, only watched the anime. I know that this will probably be a disadvantage to me in the future but I'm sorry, I just don't have enough time to read that long ass manga. So bear with me and cut me some slack please. That's all, Chapter 3 in one week. See ya then!

P.S. I just realized I published this story on 09-09-09 lol!


	4. Chapter 3: A Chapter Too Difficult to Na

Author's Notes: Well here's chapter 3, the last chapter I already had done before starting to post. Before you start reading I have a favor to ask. As much as I liked reading all the compliment and good reviews, I really want you guys to try and find critiques because I know my fic isn't _that _good (yet). If you think something is a little funny then just say it. Anything (except spelling and grammar) will help. Now that that's said, on with the fic!

The Only Constant

Chapter 3: A Chapter Too Difficult to Name

Nabiki Tendo sat at her desk in her room at night. Sprawled out on the table in front of her were the family's monthly bills which were at an all time low since Saotome left. Usually, the majority of the invoices were from repairs made to the dojo after a certain pig-tailed boy's frequent brawls but due to his absence there weren't any, a nice little bonus to her little deal with Ranma.

Nabiki was still selling the pictures of Ranma's girl form and their copies (which Ranma didn't need to know about) and had so far made a fortune, with Kuno being one of her primary consumers.

"My pig-tailed goddess, who hath been spirited away by the foul sorcerer Saotome, verily must have left these mementoes to encourage me to rescue her fair maiden from that cur. I'll take them all!" or something like that he always said. Nabiki had no problem selling Kuno all the photos though. She was a woman of business after all, and Kuno was definitely the highest bidder. How the dolt could have so much money to spend on her pictures and still live so luxuriously, even with his heritage, was beyond her, but she doesn't care. As long as he has the money for her to milk, Nabiki will sell him as many photos as he wants. At this rate, she can have her college funds taken care of in no time.

It's been about half a month since Ranma's departure from the Nerima ward, and so far, his absence has already greatly affected it. The most noticeable difference being how relatively calm it was. There weren't many bouts around town anymore, save for a few, and there hadn't been a new weirdo looking for Ranma since he left. Hell, repair businesses were going out of business and going door –to-door looking for jobs. In many aspects, life has improved since Ranma left.

Yet, Nabiki couldn't help but miss him. Sure, it could be a major pain in the ass sometimes when a hole in the dojo wall just always seemed to keep reappearing, but at least life never got boring. You never knew what to expect from the next day with Ranma around, it was always different. Not to mention, if Ranma was gone for good, Nabiki would have to revert back to selling photos of Akane instead, which she never really enjoyed, but the family needs money, and she can't count on her father to pull any weight.

After making a few more calculations, Nabiki heard a clacking noise at her window. She took a quick glance at the calendar before nodding her head. Yeah, it was about that time. Nabiki turned to her window to see Colone standing on the windowsill. The 300 year old Chinese Amazon matriarch squinted her eyes at Nabiki before speaking.

"Where is son-in-law?"

"Not wasting any time with chit-chat today are we?" Nabiki replied in an emotionless tone. She knew this was coming, but still didn't like to deal with Colone.

"Just answer the question."

"You should know that information isn't cheap Elder Colone," Nabiki held out her hand. "10,000 yen."

Colone jumped from the windowsill and hopped onto her staff to where she was level with Nabiki. "You drive a hard bargain, but you do know that I could beat the information out of you if I needed to?"

"I have no doubt you could," Nabiki wagged a finger, "but the question is whether that is the wisest decision?"

Colone growled and slapped 10,000 yen into Nabiki's hand. She knew better than to cross the Ice Queen of Furinkan High. Bad things happen then. _Very_ bad things.

"No out with it, where is son-in-law?"

Nabiki turned back to her bills and started making calculations again. While making a few strokes on her calculator she said, "Ok fine, I heard Saotome say that he was going to the Grand Canyon in the United States for a training trip. That's all I have."

Colone nodded and jumped back onto the windowsill. "I see. Thank you for your cooperation Miss Tendo."

"And I thank you for your money," she said while still typing on her calculator.

With that, Colone disappeared into the night. She had preparations to make.

XXXX

Outside Nabiki's room, two shadowy figures hid in the foliage of a tree. They had been listening to the whole exchange between Colone and Nabiki and obtained the information they needed.

"I must report this to Master Kuno."

"Mistress Ukyo must be informed."

They both said simultaneously, and departed from the Tendo compound.

XXXX

Ryoga Hibiki trotted through a blizzard with his head buried in a map. Let's see, he was just in Egypt so now he should be around India which means he'll be back at Nerima in no time. _Just you wait Ranma, I'll beat you this time._

The lost boy was plotting his next course on his map when the blizzard suddenly stopped and he heard a voice above him.

"Ok fine, I heard Saotome say that he was going to the Grand Canyon in the United States for a training trip."

Ryoga crumpled the map in his hand. "Damn you Ranma! Why didn't you show yourself when I was there an hour ago?!"

The lost boy promptly stomped off in a random direction where he quickly became surrounded by a thick jungle.

XXXX

The next morning, Akane Tendo sat at the table staring at her breakfast. Across from her sat Nabiki lazily eating her breakfast and in the kitchen was Kasumi doing dishes while humming a tune to herself. As she began to move the food around on her plate with her chopsticks, Akane turned to face her younger older sister.

"Nabiki," she started, "I overheard your conversation with Colone last night."

"It's not nice to eavesdrop Akane," Nabiki replied nonchalantly, not even phased by the comment.

_Look who's talking._ "Well why didn't you say anything? You know that I've been wondering where he was for the past week."

"You never asked."

Akane stood up from the table and glared at her older sister, "But I'm your sister!"

"And it's because you're my sister that I'm not charging you right now." Nabiki stopped eating and leveled her gaze at Akane. "Besides, unlike all the other fiancées, you're not the type that would waste a ton of money to go half way around the world just to find Ranma.

"Well you should have still at least told me."

"And then what would you have done? Like I said knowing this information doesn't change anything for you. Unless," Nabiki squinted her eyes, "you were worried about him."

Akane blushed, but quickly covered it with a mask of anger, "You've gotta be kidding me! Why would I be worried about that baka?! He can go to the arctic for all I care!" With that final remark, Akane inhaled the rest of her breakfast and stomped up stairs. "I'm getting ready for school."

After hearing the door slam, Nabiki turned back to her own breakfast and sighed. "It's way too easy to manipulate you Akane. Be careful about that in the future," she murmured under her breath.

XXXX

Main power supply; depleted. Emergency back-up energy; low. Warning: Complete system failure imminent. Main system shut down commencing. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. . .

*SNORE*

"Saotome-san wake up!"

Commencing reboot operations. Unable to attain 100% performance.

In other words, "Uh, wha, huh?" Ranma cracked his eyes open and lifted his head off his desk, coming face to face with his teacher.

"Welcome back Saotome-san. Now that you've returned from dreamland, you can report to detention after school along with Tsukino-san and Aino-san—"

"Sorry we're late!" The door burst open as Usagi and Minako came flying into the classroom. Out of breathe as usual.

-once they arrive," the teacher finished. "Aino-san and Tsukino-san, take your seats and you can join Saotome-san in detention after school."

Usagi's mood brightened, "Ranma has detention too?"

Minako also instantly recovered from her morning sprint and walked over and patted Ranma on the back. "Alright, welcome to the detention club buddy."

"Uhhh."

Ami sighed, "That's not something to be proud of you know."

"Yeah, I know that much."

"Take. Your. Seats. Girls," the teacher growled out.

In an instant, the two empty seats of the classroom were filled by the two blondes.

"Ok, now that we're all situated again, let's continue the lesson."

XXXX

After school, and after detention, Ranma met up with the girls again. Through the past couple of weeks, he had grown to become pretty good friends with them. He's always enjoyed watching Rei and Usagi's arguments, as odd as that sounds because it reminded him of the one way quarrels between him and Akane back home. The two girls' arguments weren't necessarily one sided and had no mallets involved but it still gave Ranma a sense of nostalgia nonetheless.

Makoto and Minako are always extremely nice to him. Treating him to all sorts of foods and making him lunches. He always thought he should repay them but they would always decline saying that he already had. Ranma didn't understand what they meant so he just let them be. How could he pass up free food after all?

Ami was the quiet one. Not saying much but always meaning what she says. Whenever Ranma saw her with her head in a book he always thought that she was shutting out the non-sense babble the other girls were spouting. She would always surprise him though when she'd suddenly input her own extremely valid opinion without even stopping to put down her book.

It was a neat group and it was nice being around some normal people for once rather than the mentally unstable and insane people that normally surrounded him. Oh, and the fact that none of them wanted to marry, kill, defeat, or enslave him was pretty neat too.

"Ugh that was so boring," Usagi complained. "Why can't they make detention more interesting for us frequent patrons?"

"Stop complaining meatball head," Rei snapped back. "It's your own fault so just deal with it!"

"Meanie!" Usagi stuck her tongue out at Rei, who returned the gesture.

Ranma sighed, having already seen this same argument many times before. Soon enough it will degenerate to either shot-gun name calling or pulling of hair. It turned out to be the latter.

Ignoring the yelps of pain behind her, Minako asked, "So Ranma, what did you think of your first detention at Juuban High? Boring huh?"

"Actually," Ranma started while rubbing the back of his head, "it wasn't that bad."

Usagi ceased pulling at Rei's hair to stare at Ranma. "What do you mean 'it wasn't that bad'? All you do is sit around for an hour doing nothing. How is that not bad?!" Usagi was now right in front of Ranma's face, as if trying to find the answer to her question in his eyes.

"Well," Ranma started while pushing the bubbly blonde's head away, "back in Furinkan, detention was more like 'avoid getting your ki drained from a hyperactive little ki vampire that thinks anything you do is cause for punishment for delinquency for an hour' so compared to that this isn't that bad." Now everyone was staring at Ranma, even Ami had put her book down to see if that was still the Ranma they knew talking.

"Ki vampire?" Ami asked "Do those really exist?"

Ranma moved his hand to his chin. As if trying to think of something, "Sure they do. There's also Ucchan who's an expert at combat okonomiyaki cooking, Kuno who runs around with a bokken everywhere, oh and of course his dad who's the principle and is obsessed with Hawaii and short hair. " After picking up their jaws from the ground, the girls decided to hold their questions so as to maintain their sanity. "So when you compare it to that, it was boring however that's what made it a good thing."

The girls of all gave Ranma puzzled looks. "I don't get it. How can boring be a good thing?" Makoto asked.

"Well, since it was so boring, it forced me to find somethin' ta do and since I couldn't do any training or somethin' I turned to the one thing I could do."

"And that one thing was. . .?" Minako prompted while waving her hand in the "go-on" gesture.

"To study," Ranma stated plainly.

*THUD!*

Minako and Usagi both face-faulted. Usagi was the first to recover, "But no one ever studies in detention! That's like one of the unspoken rules to just sit through it and suffer."

Ranma blinked, "Um, well first of all I've never heard any of these 'unspoken rules' and second of all, that doesn't make any sense. 'Sides, I got a lot of studyin' done and now I'm confident that I'll actually get higher than a 60 on the English test tomorrow." Ranma gave his cocky grin while the girls looked at each other.

*The Next Day*

*SLAM*

Ranma stared at the paper in front of him that the English teacher just slammed on his desk. On the upper right corner was a number between 0 and 100 circled in red pen. Out of those 101 numbers, there were 40 numbers that he wanted to see. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.

At lunch, Ranma was in a complete vegetative state when he went to the tree the girls ate under.

"Hey Ranma, how'd the English test go?" came Usagi's bubbly voice.

Ranma held up the paper he was holding to show the girls.

"Oh, um, 19. That's. . . not. . . too. . .bad," Minako said in a nervous voice. The rest of the group cringed.

Ranma collapsed to the ground; you could practically see the words "depressed" above his head emitting a heavy aura. "Normally I wouldn't give a damn what I got on these tests but since I studied so hard for it. . ." he trailed off.

"It's like having your efforts shoved in your face and spat on?" Makoto finished. The aura around Ranma seemed to darken and the surrounding temperature noticeably dropped. Makoto put a hand to her mouth. "Oops." The other girls sighed.

While the other girls were trying to think of something to say or do to cheer Ranma up, (surprisingly food didn't work) Ami saw something poking out of Ranma's bag that piqued her curiosity and got up and walked over to the sulking pig-tailed boy.

"Ranma," she said in a comforting voice, "if you don't mind me asking, what book did you study from?"

Ranma looked up at Ami, then reached over and grabbed the book from his bag, "Well, I'd never actually studied before so I thought that it didn't matter what book it was so I just looked through the one titled History." He showed the book to the girls and sure enough, it was a history textbook.

All activity stopped under the tree. Everyone slowly cranked their heads to look at Ranma, looks of disbelief plastered on their faces. In the distance, you could hear the sound of a crow calling.

"You've _got_ to be kidding," all but Ami deadpanned. Ami's eye just twitched.

Ranma looked around at the faces of disbelief, not understanding what was happening, "What? It's not like it's _my _fault the questions on the test weren't in the book at all,"

*TH-TH-THUD!*

This time no one could resist the sudden increase in gravity to their faces.

Picking her up head from the ground, Ami rubbed her temples as she stated, "Ok Ranma, since it seems that you do want to do better in school for your own gain-"

"Actually it just 'cuz if my grades don't go up, I'll hav'ta take afterschool remedial classes," Ranma interrupted. After seeing Ami's glare, he shrunk back, "Sorry, go on." _What is up with girls and glares?! Even the quiet, smart one has it._

"As I was saying," Ami continued, "If you really want to learn I could tutor you sometimes after school."

Ranma cupped his chin with his hand, thinking about the offer. If it was only a few times a week then it wouldn't majorly cut into his training time. Plus, this will probably his only chance to learn something non-martial arts related in his life. "Ok sure. That'd help a lot Ami. Just gimme the time and place."

Ami smiled, "Well we have a study group every-," she cut her sentence short as she thought about the girls' "study groups." Usually it would just involve Usagi and Rei arguing with Makoto and Minako talking about boys the whole time leaving just Ami to be the only one actually studying. Probably not the best place to tutor someone like Ranma.

"On second thought," she began again, "you could just come to my house after school sometimes and I'll tutor you there. You could start tomorrow if you'd like. How does that sound?" The girls all looked at Ami, wondering why she just didn't just offer for Ranma to come to their study sessions.

"Yeah, sounds great," Ranma replied. "Oh, wait a sec, I can't do tomorrow. I just remembered I got somethin' ta do. How 'bout Thursday?"

Ami looked a little surprised but said, "Yes, that's fine. I'll walk you to my house on Thursday then."

"Sounds good, I'll c ya then." With that, lunch continued un-interrupted, and Ami wondered why the other girls were giving her evil grins.

XXXX

After school, the girls gathered at their favorite ice cream store to chew the fat like they always did. Rei was informed about Ranma's "studying" attempt as well as his new tutor sessions with Ami.

"Oh I see," Rei said after she heard the end of the story, and grinned. "You're going to tutor him _alone_ huh?"

Ami looked puzzled at Rei's grin, "Well, yes," she replied. "I'm sorry but there's just no way that he could learn anything at our study sessions. And if Senshi business came up, what would we do with him?"

Minako caught on to Rei's joke and jumped into the conversation, "Really? Are you sure it's not for some _other_ reason?" Minako winked and nudged Ami in the side.

Ami suddenly understood the statements and started to blush. "No really girls, it's not like that," she said while waving her hands in a warding gesture, "I'm only helping him with his studies. Even if he has a well sculpted body it does n-" Ami stopped mid-sentence when she realized she had just dug her own grave, putting a hand to her mouth as to try to shove the words back in.

Minako jumped from her chair and pointed at Ami, "Ah ha! I knew it! You've got a thing for Ranma don't you? You can't escape my master detective skills. Haha!"

"Even though it was me who brought it up and wasn't even there," Rei muttered under her breath.

Makoto was just recovering from the shock that the one boy Ami goes after is the same one as her. Ami! The perfect-student, never do anything wrong, and has never been seriously interested in a boy before, Ami! "I still can't believe it," she said. "But I won't lose to you Ami. I WILL be the one to win Ranma's heart!" (How often have you heard that?)

Ami laid her head on the table and sighed, "I said it wasn't like that," she said in an exhausted tone.

Soon the whole table erupted into talk about who will get Ranma and when it will happen and such. Well, except for Usagi, she just wondered if she could have another sundae.

XXXX

Ranma walked to school with Makoto the next day as usual, but noticed that she seemed a little agitated about something. Not once has she ever looked at him and she had been mumbling to herself the entire time. Every now and then he could pick out words such as "heart" and "Ami" and "win".

Deciding to take a chance, knowing full well he probably shouldn't with his luck with girls, and asked, "Hey, um, Makoto. Is somethin' up? You look like you've had somethin' on your mind for a while now."

Makoto snapped out of her trance and gave Ranma a smile that seemed just a little too friendly. "Why nothing's wrong. Why would anything be wrong? It's not like the person I least expected decided to compete with me over the boy of my dreams or anything. Whatever gave you that idea? Hehehe, Hahahaha!"

He was right, he shouldn't have asked. Ranma took a step away from the delirious girl and just decided to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the walk. He whistled a tune to himself, trying to drown out the laughter. It reminded him too much of a certain Rythmic Gymnastics fruit cake.

He failed.

XXXX

During class that day, Ranma leaned over to Ami and whispered, "Hey, we're still on for tomorrow right?"

Ami seemed startled and turned to him and said, "Uh, why yes. Of course. Just meet me in front of the gates after school and I'll walk you there," and quickly turned away.

Ranma pulled back to his seat, puzzled by why Ami was so jumpy. Behind him, he could hear Minako snickering. He'll never understand girls.

XXXX

It was after school, and time for the thing Ranma had been dreading all day. She was now walking down the streets off Juuban in her cursed form to a job interview. She had been searching for a job ever since she arrived in Juuban and had a hard time finding one that was nearby and had a good pay.

Finally, she found it. A local arcade/restaurant called the Crown Game Corner, was looking for a helping hand serving tables. Unfortunately they were looking for waitresses only, which explained Ranma's current form.

Although she hated to admit it, it was probably a good business move. Ranma had waitressed at the Cat Café long enough to know that just simply having a good looking girl could bring in a ton of business. Plus, it's a lot easier to get the boys to tip her more, which was a nice bonus. Add that to the experience she has from waitressing the Cat Café and Ucchan's (it doesn't get any harder than those places) and that means an easy job with a good income for Ranma.

As Ranma came around a corner, she saw Ami speaking into what seemed to look like a calculator of some kind.

"Jeez, didn't know she was _that _much of a nerd," she muttered. After she finished talking, she gave a quick glance around, not noticing Ranma it seemed, and ducked into a nearby alley.

"Hm, weird. She doesn't seem like the type to be doing back-alley illegal business." Looking into a nearby store's clock, Ranma decided she was still early for her interview. Shrugging, she jumped to a nearby roof-top and shrouded herself in the Umi-sen ken. Maybe this would explain why Ami was acting so weird today.

Looking down from her perch on the building, Ranma saw Ami once again checking her surroundings cautiously. When she seemed sure that there was no one around, she pulled out a pen looking object from what seemed out of nowhere.

_Huh, wonder what that is._

Raising the pen object above her head, she shouted some phrase that Ranma couldn't completely make out. Although she could discern the words "Mercury" and "Power". After Ami finished her "chant", Ranma supposed, a bright light engulfed her as she was lifted off the ground and her clothes disappeared, quickly being replaced by the same blue fuku that Ranma had saw one of those weird girls wearing the other day.

_So Ami likes to play hero in her free time. _Ranma thought._ Who knew? Maybe she was all jittery 'cuz she hadn 't gotten ta go out in a while. Ah well, doesn't involve me. I gotta get to my interview now._ Casting one last glance at the strangely garbed Ami, Ranma jumped down from the building and continued on her transit to the Crown Game Corner.

XXXX

Meanwhile, in that same alley.

Sailor Mercury stood fully transformed. Although she had thought she felt a slight aura above her when she transformed, it was so minute it was probably a bird. Jumping to the top of a nearby building, the same as where Ranma was, she sprinted off to the location of the youma sighting near the Crown Game Corner.

XXXX

Things were looking grim for the Senshi that were on the scene of the youma. That is, all the Inners except for Mercury. This youma seemed to be some kind of golem made of rock which meant a very tough armor to pierce. It was about 2 meters tall and arms that resembled hammer and flat feet. It would probably be roaring if it had a mouth, but it didn't, just a pair of squinty black eyes.

So far all the Senshi's attacks had harmlessly bounced off of his rock armor, and, in the worst cases, even reflected back at them.

Moon's attacks could probably get through its defenses but those had a long charge up time and this youma was smart. Each time Moon would start up an attack the other inners would try to distract the golem. But the golem knew their attacks were useless and would simply rush Moon and interrupt her attack.

After another failed attempt at a Moon Gorgeous Meditation, Jupiter jumped back and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Dang this thing is tough," she panted out, "We can't do any damage to it." She threw another quick "Sparkling Wide Pressure" at the golem which, unsurprisingly, sputtered out the moment it hit the rock carapace.

"There has to be a weak point, we just have to find it!" Mars yelled before jumping out of the way of a bus slamming into the space she occupied half a second before. "Great, we got a bus chucker."

"Leave the weak point to me." Everyone turned behind them to see Mercury, visor down and already clacking away on her computer.

"Ah, glad you could make it Mercury," Moon said, avoiding a swipe to her head while simultaneously removing her tiara and throwing it at the demon's neck. It was her weakest attack, but it was her fastest and better than nothing.

Actually, maybe nothing was better, as the tiara reflected off the rock armor and came whirring towards Venus's head. Venus's danger sense went off and un-consciously dodged to the side as she watched the glowing disk wiz right in front of her face. "Hey watch where you're aiming that thing Moon!" she fumed.

"Sorry."

"Got it!" Everyone turned to Mercury, who made one last stroke on her computer. "Aim for its feet. The stress from its own weight has caused it to weaken." Putting away her computer, she readied her attack.

"SHABON SPRAY FREEZING!"

Laying a thick bed of fog on the battle field, the rest of the Senshi sprung into action. Having the most accurate attack, Mars struck first. Aiming for the feet of the dazed golem, she attacked.

"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"

The flaming arrow flew straight and true, detonating on the left foot of the golem and blasting rock bits in every which direction.

The golem stumbled backwards, obviously affected by the blow.

"Yes it worked," Mars exclaimed, "Keep it up and it'll go do-."

"_RAAAAAaaaaaaaAAAAWR!!!!"_

Mars's celebration was cut short as the golem suddenly formed a mouth and was now roaring at an incomprehensible level.

The Senshi covered their ears and shut their eyes as the sound reverberated through their very bones.

The roar finally died and looking up again the Senshi found. . .nothing but fog.

"Ugh, where'd that thing go?" Jupiter asked, still trying to clear the stars revolving around her head.

Moon stumbled to her feet as well, rubbing her head, "I dunno but. . ." suddenly all the Senshis' danger senses went off, "EVERYONE WATCH OUT!"

*BOOM!*

The youma slammed down onto the ground from its massive jump with the force to shatter diamonds, ramming its hammer arms into the ground at the same time. The resulting localized earthquake blew the Senshi away into nearby buildings with the force of a freight train, being peppered by sharp rock shards all the way. Bleeding and battered, the Senshi found that they were buried under a pile of rubble, and in no condition to escape.

Moon grunted as she tried to move her arms but found that they were trapped by something heavy. "This is bad."

XXXX

Watching the battle from atop one of the nearby buildings, the Outers stared at the newly created crater below them and the golem youma the middle of it. The golem was pounding its hammer arms together in what to be some gesture of triumph.

Uranus stood up from the crouch she was in and started cracking her knuckles, "Ok, the Inners are incapacitated. _Now_ can we go kick that thing's ass?" She was about to jump down when Pluto's staff blocked her path.

"No," she said in her icy, commanding voice. "For the third time, a crucial turning point in the time stream is approaching, and we are here to merely observe. So hold your fighting spirit unless I say so." Withdrawing her staff, Pluto shot Uranus one last glare then returned to her vigil, her long green hair blowing in the wind.

Slightly caught off guard by the glare, Uranus backed away from the edge and crossed her arms, "I don't get it, the Inners are already defeated, and they'll be killed if we don't do-"

Uranus was interrupted when Neptune put her hand on her shoulder, using her other hand to point to something down on the street, "Look."

XXXX

"Ok so after this turn, the game corner should just be straight ahead," Ranma said to herself.

Coming around the corner Ranma stopped and blinked.

Then she looked at the set of directions in her hand.

Then she saw the golem and sighed.

"Did I make a wrong turn somewhere?" Looking over the directions one more time she was sure this was the place. "Hm, well this is a problem."

It was then that she saw the same girls she saw the other day badly beaten and buried under a pile of rubble. They were still conscious and trying to escape but obviously weren't going anywhere any time soon.

Looking back at the golem Ranma sighed again. "See, this is exactly what I mean. You girls can't even take down a simple golem let alone protect this city from a 'great' evil," she said in a sarcastic tone.

The Inners all momentarily stopped their efforts of escape to stare incredulously at the red head that had just insulted them. It wasn't anyone they knew, but Jupiter had this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she saw her somewhere.

The golem youma noticed the new presence nearby and turned to see the petite red-headed girl standing there. It heaved its chest up and down which make it look like it was laughing.

Ranma continued to give the golem in front of her a bored look. She didn't have time for this crap. "Ok ugly look, I don't got any time to play around with you so how 'bout this. I'll beat you with one finger," holding up her right index finger she continued, "How 'bout it?"

The golem stopped "laughing" and glared at Ranma through its tiny black eyes. Then suddenly, it slammed one of its hammer arms on the ground, sending a shockwave on a direct path to Ranma.

"LOOK OUT!" Jupiter screamed. Soon her's and all the Inners' pupils widened as Ranko's form blurred into a flurry of motion. Dodging around the initial and following shock waves she reached the golem's outstretched arm in a few seconds. Another second later, that same arm violently detonated in a shower of rocks.

The golem stumbled backwards, shocked by the sudden loss of its limb. Before it could recover, its second arm exploded, followed by both its legs in quick succession leaving just its torso and head to fall to the ground face-first.

The Senshi gaped, along with the outers on the roof with the exception of Pluto who just grinned.

Straightening herself out, Ranma casually walked over to what remained of the golem. Shoving its head up with her foot Ranma turned to the girls still buried in the rubble. The golem growled in protest but was promptly ignored. "Now observe girls. This is how you take out a rock demon. I dunno what little tricks you tried ta use but they obviously failed." Turning her gaze back to the golem, Ranma once again extended her right index finger.

"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" she yelled, then, to the Senshis' surprise, simply poked the forehead of the golem. Then the remaining parts of the golem exploded, leaving nothing but dust a rock being blown away by the wind.

The Senshis' jaws fell even lower. A simple poke, and it wasn't even that aggressive, and practically the whole damn golem exploded into a million little bits. The same golem that had shrugged off all of their combined attacks like an annoying fly.

After she finished dusting her hands off, Ranma walked over to the rubble the Senshi were trapped under. She looked at each senshi then crossed her arms under her chest.

"Jeez, I'm tellin' you, ya can't go around and play hero when there's dangerous stuff like that thing around," Ranma pointed to the quickly disappearing pile of dust that used to be a two ton mass of rock of destruction. "Next time you could be seriously hurt or worse, and there won't always be people around ta save ya."

The Senshi were still too stunned to realize that they had never met this girl before and had never "told" them anything. Walking over to the nearest pile of rubble, Ranma casually lifted the piece of concrete off of Sailor Venus. Moving over to the metal piling on Jupiter's torso, Ranma continued removing debris until all the Senshi were free.

That didn't help their thought processes at all, however, as they were still trying to comprehend what just happened let alone form a cohesive sentence.

Looking at the blank looks the weird girls were giving Ranma, she shrugged then turned away. "Well, if you ain't got anythin' else ta say, I gotta go, I'm almost late for somethin' important." Ranma was about to leave when she looked over her shoulder at Mercury. "Oh yeah, and Ami, don't forgot about your tutor session with m- uh, I mean my brother tomorrow."

Mercury's heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened for the second time that day. _How did she know my name?!_ Her mind went into panic mode and as a result was able to finally form a word worthy of blurting out.

"Wait!" She reached out her hand to the girl that just became the biggest worry on her mind, but soon lowered it when she realized the little red-head wasn't there anymore.

"She. . . knew your name," Venus murmured. "But, how?"

"I don't know," the cobalt-haired Senshi replied, still staring at the place where the red-head had occupied only moments before. "I've never even met her before."

"Well, this is no place to talk about it," Sailor Moon said, walking up to the still stunned Senshi of Mercury, "Let's get out of here and meet up tonight to discuss it."

"Agreed."

XXXX

The top of the nearby building was in a similar state of shock. Saturn had dropped her Silence Glaive during the fight and was just now moving to remove it from the floor it had stuck in, Uranus was still gaping, Neptune had a hand to her mouth, and Pluto still had the know it all grin plastered to her face.

Finally, Uranus recovered and was able to point at the dissipating pile off ash, "What the HELL did she do?!" she yelled at Pluto. "And don't try to lie because I _know_ you know."

"Oh I know," Pluto replied calmly.

"And?"

"And I can't tell you."

*Thud.*

"Oh come now pick your face of the ground. We're done here. I'll meet you back at the house." With that, Pluto raised her staff and promptly teleported away.

"Grr," standing back up, Uranus clenched her fist, "I really hate her sometimes."

"Is this any different from how she normally acts? You really should be used to it by now," Neptune said, offering her hand to Uranus.

"Doesn't make it any less annoying," the blonde grumbled, taking Neptune's hand, "C'mon Saturn, we're heading back."

XXXX

"M' lord, the data of the last battle has returned," the cloaked woman said, kneeling before the large man sitting in front of her.

"Very well, what were the results," boomed his voice.

"The operation was a failure," she said dryly. A long silence ensued, followed by the soft clacking as the man drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.

"I see," the man frowned. This was not completely unexpected but was still a setback "Full battle report," he commanded.

"Yes M' lord. The golem youma easily incapacitated the first Senshi on the scene. It sustained little to no damage until they discovered a weak point. It then unleashed one of its shockwave attacks, incapacitating all opponents."

"Then what destroyed it," he asked impatiently.

The women winced slightly, not looking forward to the next part of the report. "There was an unexpected variable. A human civilian stumbled onto the battle where she dispatched the youma in. . ." she paused, taking a deep breath before continuing, "49 seconds."

The man's eyes widened underneath his hood, although the woman couldn't see them. "That's impossible!" he barked, "The last youma had been a failure due to a mistake in production, leaving it extremely weak and susceptible. It's not possible we made the same mistake twice. So how did a mere human civilian manage to easily defeat the golem that easily defeated the Senshi?! On-site magical analysis report, now!"

"Ummm. . ."

"What?!"

"There was none again, besides the Senshi's. The golem was defeated by pure, un-aided, strength. . . again," she said the last word much more silently than the rest of the sentence.

The man growled, "I don't have any more time for these stupid flukes. I'm dispatching you to the battle field. Do not disappoint me Lyna."

Nodding, Lyna pulled back her hood, revealing a long mane of black hair and a pair of emerald green eyes. Bowing to her master, she flicked her wrist, making a dagger appear in her hand. "As you wish M' lord." She sliced downward with her dagger. As it continued down, the space behind the dagger began to tear, leaving a portal like hole behind. Bowing once again to her master, Lyna stepped through to the other side.

AN: Well there you have it, Chapter 3. Before anythingelse I'd like to say I'm nowhere CLOSE to finishing Ch 4. I've started on it but so far haven't gotten very far. I've got an English AP essay now that's more important to focus on sorry. Now a few things to address.

Colone's continued search for Ranma: As some of you have probably read similar things, I believe that Colone has given up the prospect of having Ranma as a husband for Shampoo, she still wants to have him as an ally to the Amazons, which is why she must still know where he is.

Ranma Studying?!: Yup, he studied. . . the wrong book that is. I meant what I wrote, if you've got nothing else better to do in detention, then that would be his only option. If you still disagree with me, I think the book thing balances it out.

Waitress Job: Again, I mean what I wrote. If Ranma is desperate for money, then I think he would take the waitressing job since he already has so much experience.

Chapter Name: Any suggestions? I'm at a loss here.

Ranma'a efficiency killing the youma: She was late for an interview. Had to take care of it fast.

Pairings: People that are out of the running are: All the Outers. I just can't think of a way to make it work with the way I have the plot planned out.

Well thanks for reading and be sure to review. Expect Ch4 in 2-3 weeks I'd say.


	5. 4: The Beginning of the Beginning

Author's Notes: Hoo- boy, it's been a while hasn't it but hey I said 2-3 months. Wait what's that? I said 2-3 weeks? Ah weeks, months, what's the difference? This chapter turned out to be MUCH longer than I expected it to be. A whopping 11,180 words without AN's, so hopefully it will be worth the wait. I've only had the chance to work on this in little chunks over the weekend but hey, IT'S FINALLY DONE!

A few things to touch on first. If you haven't noticed yet, this is an original storyline created by me that takes place at the end of the Ranma ½ manga and in between Sailor Moon SuperS and STARS. It just seems easier and more fun to make your own story than trying to integrate two together.

Pronouns and names: For now on it will be Boy=Ranma Girl=Ranko to avoid possible confusion. Pronouns will always be used as the current form.

Finally, the opening scene of this chapter may seem a little strange but it will be explained in the AN's at the end of the chapter. What I will say now is that I'm poking fun at one of my friends

As much as I'd like to address the many arguments presented to me, I know you just want to read the chapter so I won't waste your time.

I do not own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon characters. They belong to so-and-so yada-yada-yada.

Now for my early Christmas present to you.

The Only Constant

Chapter 4: The Beginning of the Beginning

**IF YOU IGNORED MY AUTHOR NOTES THEN I'LL SAY IT AGAIN HERE. YOU **_**MUST**_** READ THE AN'S AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER TO UNDERSTAND THIS SCENE!!!!!!! **

Glynn Christians wiped the sweat from his brow as he overlooked the great expanse known as the Grand Canyon. In every direction he looked it was beautiful scenery of red rocked plateaus and valleys. Below him the Colorado River flowed effortlessly, still carving out a path through the bedrock like it has for countless years.

He had been backpacking through the various trails that snaked through the valleys for the past month and has thoroughly enjoyed his journey thus far. The satisfaction that comes from being able to slide into a sleeping bag, in a tent you set up, in a campsite that you found never gets old. He couldn't wait to re-tell the experiences he had here to his friends back in California. Sure one friend was a lifeguard who had saved countless lives thus far at the beach and the other was a professional Russian hacker that hacked into the American database in 30 minutes with a laptop but Glynn had something to brag about too. He could walk on rocks, and damn it, he was good at it.

Glancing to his left, Glynn spotted a sight that he at first found strange, but has now become accustomed to seeing. A large dust cloud was rapidly racing up the trail towards him at surprising speeds. Knowing what was coming next, he went into a prone position on the ground as a lithe young Chinese girl with purple hair sped past him. Had he been standing up, Glynn most likely would have been blown over the cliff he was standing by. As the girl ran into the distance, Glynn heard her say something about an "ire rent", whatever that means.

This occurrence has been happening since his fifth day on the trail. These two girls, the one that just ran past him and a brunette, would blaze across every trail in the area with surprising speed. Occasionally there was even a burly boy with a yellow bandanna that seemed to blow through any rock in his path. What's more surprising is that this group of kids had no backpacks, or anything else that resembled a container of some sort. How they've kept up this furious pace for so long without supplies was beyond him, but he wished they would share their secrets with him. It would make things much easier.

Standing back up, Glynn brushed the dust off his pants. When he was about to turn to go down the trail into the next valley, he saw the second dust cloud approaching. There had been a question burning in his mind ever since he first saw these girls and he decided now was no better a time than any to ask. Stepping in front of the approaching brunette he called out, "'Ay. 'Ows it goin. Can I ask ya something?"

Ukyo stopped in her sprint up the trail to face the man who addressed her. That's weird, what would an American want with her? She didn't know that much English, but she still got a little out of Ms. Hinako's joke of a class, unlike her fiancée. "Yes, what you want? I in hurry."

Glynn smirked that he got the girl's attention. It seemed that her English wasn't perfect but it was good enough. "Sorry to bother you, but there's just something I've got to ask you."

Ukyo blinked once, all she really understood was that this man had a question for her. She just hoped it was quick so she could get back to her search for Ranma.

Glynn took a deep breath before continuing on with his question, "What _is _your bra size?"

Ukyo didn't need Ms. Hinako's classes to understand that. She had heard Happousai ask that question in so many languages imaginable to the foreign girls that passed through Nerima, that it was practically directly imprinted into her brain. Her face grew red as she drew out her battle spatula. Before Glynn could even raise a hand in defense, Ukyo slammed her spatula into the side of his head, sending him rolling down the trail she had just come up. With a "Hmph!" she turned and stomped off in the opposite direction. Glynn somehow managed to raise his hand as he muttered, "Whoa," and promptly lapsed into unconsciousness.

XXXX

"Well you certainly seem qualified for this job," Motoki Furuhata said while shuffling through the application letters. He was hiring for the Crown Game Corner, and the petite red-headed girl seemed ideal for the job. "The Cat Café _and_ Ucchan's Restaurant, I'm familiar with both and have heard that it's no small feat to wait tables there. I'm impressed."

"Thanks. Yeah, you wouldn't believe the craziness that goes on in those places," the red-head replied. "So waddaya say? Do I get the job?"

Motoki put down the papers and looked at the girl again, "I have to say yes. You'll be a huge help to us in the future."

"Yes!" the red-head shouted while jumping out from her chair. "Thanks so much. I really needed this."

"No problem. You're the one who deserved it. Unazuki-chan!" Motoki called out. A few seconds later, another red-head with her hair in a pony tail poked her head in the room. "This is Ranko Saotome, she's a new waitress. Could you show her the ropes around here?"

"Sure thing." Turning to greet Ranko she said, "I'm Unazuki Furuhata, it's nice to meet you Ranko. Follow me and I'll show you around." Unazuki left the room, whom Ranko promptly followed.

XXXX

The Senshi had just returned from Rei's shrine to recount the events of the battle that just ensued. Mainly how this random red-headed girl seemed to come out of now where and completely destroy the golem in a matter of seconds. The fact that she knew Mercury's identity was no small matter either.

Closing the door behind her Rei sat down with the rest of the girls at the table, now in their civilian forms. "Ok, Grandpa is out right now so we should have some privacy for now."

"Great," Usagi said, "now for the million yen question. Who _was_ that girl? She took care of that youma as if it was nothing!"

"By poking it nonetheless," Minako murmured.

"Exactly, not only that, but she knew that Mercury was Ami. That just doesn't happen. We take great care in checking our surroundings before transforming, even scanning the area for life energy. So how did she find out?"

Silence ensued as everyone in the room thought over the question. Finally, Makoto spoke up, "Well, I can't say that I know how she knew Ami or took care of the youma, but I think I might know who she was."

Everyone in the room leaned over the table to Makoto, "Really?!" they said simultaneously.

Pushing everyone away, Makoto put her hands up in a hands-off position, "It's been bothering me ever since I saw that red hair. It's not a very common color for Japanese girls, and I only saw one other girl with it in that same pig-tail style."

"Well then who is it? C'mon!" Rei urged.

"Look I can't say for sure but I think that may have been Ranma's sister, Ranko. I've only seen her for a split second once before though so I'm not certain."

"Ranma has a sister?" Usagi asked with a puzzled look.

Ami also looked confused, "If that's true then how come we have never met her, or seen her at school before? For that matter how come Ranma has never even mentioned her?"

"Well, Ranma said that she was just visiting when I saw her and that she was very shy and didn't really like to meet new people."

"Oh yeah, she seemed _really_ shy at that last battle," Rei said sarcastically.

"All I'm telling you is what Ranma said ok." Putting an index finger on her cheek, Makoto looked up at the ceiling, "Now that I think about it though, he was acting a little strange when he talked about her. He even kept me from meeting her."

"And you didn't find that suspicious until now how?" Rei asked annoyingly.

"Look I was distracted at the time alright. And it didn't really seem like a big deal at the moment so I just brushed it off."

"Well whether or not Ranma was acting suspicious, we still need to do something about this situation," Usagi said. "We need to find out more about Ranma's sister, heck even Ranma from what we've seen so far. Any suggestions?"

Raising her hand Ami replied, "Well, I do have that tutor session with Ranma tomorrow. I could try probing him then."

"That's a great idea Ami. And while you're at it," Usagi leaned over and picked Luna up, who gave a slight squeak of surprise, "take Luna with you. Maybe she will be able to help you."

"What am I? A portable magic detector?" the black cat protested.

"Oh stop complaining and just go. This could be important," the moon princess hushed.

"Alright, so I'll take Luna to my house tonight. Then she can sit in on Ranma's tutor session tomorrow and see if she finds anything suspicious. Is that the plan?" Ami clarified.

"That's the plan. So that just about wraps up this meeting. Let's go home already, I'm so sleepy," Minako yawned out the last phrase.

"Ok let's meet again tomorrow after Ami's session with Ranma."

"Alright, goodnight."

XXXX

"Ranma over here."

The pig-tailed boy turned to see Ami waving to him as he walked out the school gate. "Hey Ami, today's the tutor lessons right?"

"That's right. My place is this way, come on," Ami said while walking off to her left.

"Right behind ya."

Nearby in the bushes, Usagi and Minako held back a fairly agitated Makoto.

"C'mon, lemme go!" complained the brunette, "It's not fair that Ami gets to have the hot guy over alone but not me!" She gave one more tug on the arms wrapped around her waist.

"No way Mako-chan," Usagi replied, "We have to make sure that Ami can ask Ranma questions about his sister without interruptions. We went over this last night remember?"

"Yeah, well it seemed like a good idea at the time but not so much at the moment. Now let. Me. Go! Ow, don't grab me there Mina-chan!"

"Sorry."

The boys walking by the rustling bush could only hold their noses to prevent the sudden on-rush of blood.

XXXX

"Well, here we are." Ranma and Ami stepped inside the door of the medium-sized house.

"Nice place ya got here," Ranma complemented, "Helluva lot organized than my apartment."

Setting down her school bag on a table, Ami turned back to Ranma, "Well thank you Ranma. My mother is still working at the hospital so there isn't anyone here right now."

"Oh, so you're mom's a doc too. I knew one back at Nerima. Good guy, good martial artist too."

"Really, what did he specialize in?"

"Um, I guess pressure points and, I dunno what it's called but the guy could twist you into a pretzel."

"Oh, so he was a chiropractor. They really help me out when I need it." Ami said while stretching her arms up.

"No, he goes beyond stretching. He really can twist you into a pretzel. I've experienced it firsthand. Not a fun experience," Ranma shuddered.

Ami sweatdropped, confused as to how a human could be twisted into such a shape, "Um, well he sounds very experienced then," eager to change the topic, the cobalt-haired girl said, "Ok, why don't we start with your tutoring then shall we."

"Sounds good," Ranma replied while sitting down at the table. Ami started rummaging through her school bag until she took out a book.

Setting it on the table and turning to a page she said, "Then let's start with this."

Ranma stared at the book for a few seconds before looking up at Ami, "Hey, I didn't know our school taught Korean."

Ami sweat-dropped again, "Ranma, that's a math book."

Said black-haired boy rubbed the back of his head, "Are ya sure?" then pointed to something on the page, "Then what's this?"

"That's the division symbol Ranma," Ami's sweat-drop grew.

"Really?" he looked from the book to Ami and the book again. "Huh, who knew?" he said off-handedly.

"Many people actually Ranma." Silence followed the exchange as Ami thought of how to proceed after such an awkward moment. Finally she said, "Well it looks like we have a lot of work to do, let's start with the basics shall we?"

"Ok sure."

*Half an hour later*

*THUD! THUD! THUD!*

The table shook violently as Ami slammed her head repeatedly. Ranma just stared on bewildered. Reaching over to the cobalt-haired girl, he said, "Um, Ami did I say something wrong?"

Ami stopped the killing of her brain cells (which there were many of) and rubbed her temples. _I don't get it,_ she thought, _How can he not know how to divide twelve by six?!_ Looking up to face her possibly retarded pupil, Ami stopped and turned back when she heard a familiar sound from the kitchen doorway.

"Meow."

_Perfect timing._ Getting up from her seat, Ami walked over to pick up the black cat that had just poked its head around the corner. "Ah Luna there you are. Ranma this is Luna. She's Usagi's-" Ami stopped mid-sentence when she turned around to realize she was talking to nothing but air.

"Well that's strange, where did Ranma go?" Taking a step forward, something sharp poked the bottom of her foot. "Ow!" she exclaimed while retracting her abused foot from the pile of broken glass in front of her. It didn't take long for her to look up and see the shattered remains of the living room window pane. "Wha-, Bu-, Who-, How-, Without me hearing?!" was all she could could sputter out.

*Ding-dong*

Ami's stupor was broken as she went to answer the door. To her surprise, as soon as she opened the door, a terrified looking Ranma poked his head in, "I-i-is th-the c-c-c-c-"

"Meow?"

*SLAM!*

"Eep!" Ami barely managed to pull her fingers away before they were painfully crushed.

"That's strange," Luna said while still staring at the door. "All I did was meow. Why did he run off like that?"

Catching her breath, Ami steadied herself on a chair. "It would appear that Ranma has a case of ailurophobia, and a fairly severe one at that."

Jumping onto the shattered windowsill, Luna peered about the house, "Well, it doesn't look like he will be returning any time soon," she said in a depressed tone. "So much for learning more about Ranko."

"Truly, let's call the girls together to tell them what happened." Ami replied while walking to the phone. On one hand, she was disappointed on not learning anything new about Ranma or Ranko. On the other, much larger, hand, she was jumping for joy that she didn't need to deal with Ranma's inept education for the time being.

XXXX

"Thank you. Come again," the petite young red-head said to the departing customers of the Crown Game Corner diner.

Coming up behind her, Unazuki gave her a pat on the shoulder, "Nice work Ranko. Not bad for your first night."

"Well like I said. I've had plenty of experience at other places," Ranko replied happily.

"And it shows. Well, keep up the good work Ranko-chan." Unazuki walked to another table, where she took the customers' order.

Ranko continued smiling for another moment before she frowned and started walking to the new group of patrons that sat down. It was bad enough she that she had to work as girl and use this girl name, but it was even worse when people put –chan at the end or some other nickname. Turning her frown upside down, Ranko began her usual greeting, "Welcome to the Crown Game Corner diner. How may I-."

"Yeah, I'll have a-," Usagi stopped the order for her sundae when she realized that there wasn't anyone there to take it. Scratching her head she said, "That's weird. Hey guys, wasn't there a waitress here just now?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Usagi, I wasn't paying attention," Makoto replied.

Usagi turned her gaze to Ami, who held her hands up, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention either."

"It was probably just all that sugar going to your head meatball-brain." Rei teased

"But I really thought there was someone there. Hey are you listening? Stop laughing it's not nice!"

Around the corner on the other side of the restaurant, Ranko panted as she recovered from her full on sprint away from the table. "That would've been bad. If Ami or Makoto saw me, who knows what would've happened."

Seeing Unazuki giving a check to a nearby table, Ranko quickly walked over and pulled her aside.

"Whoa!" the redhead exclaimed. "What's up Ranko-chan? Something happen?"

"Yes- er no- well kinda," the smaller red-head stuttered, "Look, can you please do me a _huge_ favor and wait table 4 please."

Glancing over, Unazuki was surprised to see Usagi and company chatting at said table. "Oh, do you know Usagi and them?" she asked

"Yes- er, no- well-," Ranko waved her hands in front of her to clear her thoughts, "Look, it'd just be a big help if they didn't know I was working here. I'm trying to keep it a secret, 'k?"

Unazuki paused for a moment then nodded, "Ok, I understand, I'll take their table. I'm good friends with them so it'll be nice to talk. Just serve this side of the diner for me then alright? They won't see you over here."

Ranko's face lit up, "Thank you so much Una-chan! This will help a lot," she exclaimed before dashing around the corner.

Unazuki stared at the departing red-head for another moment before turning to her new table. "Well, let's go see what Usagi and the others are up to." Approaching the table she greeted, "Hey guys. How's it going?"

"Oh hi Una-chan," Usagi replied. "I'm doing great, thanks for asking."

"That's nice to hear," Unazuki said while pulling out her notepad and pen. "So what can I get you today?"

"I'll have a banana sundae, double scoops please," Usagi blurted out.

"I'll have my usual," Ami said.

"Same."

"Same."

"Same."

"Alright then," scribbling the last order on the paper, Unazuki slid the notepad back into her pocket. "I'll be right back with your orders then."

"Hold on Una-chan," Ami called out. "You haven't happened to have a customer named Ranko have you?"

The red-head stiffened slightly at the question but managed to retain a calm voice, "Well, not that I can remember. I don't necessarily ask all my customers their names you know.

"Yeah, you're right. It was a stupid question anyways," Ami vaguely seemed to deflate at the answer.

"Well if that's everything I'll have your order soon," turning away and walking towards the counter, Unazuki let out a breath. _Phew, dodged a bullet there._

XXXX

"Ok, so if you had twelve opponents at the start of battle, and you defeated half of them, how many are left?" Ami asked slowly, as if speaking to six-year old.

Taking his head off the table, Ranma drummed his pencil on the table, a look of intense concentration on his face. "Well six I guess."

"FINALLY!" Ami exclaimed while jumping out of her chair and throwing her hands in the air. Ranma looked on confused at the cobalt-haired girl's sudden outburst. Taking her seat again, Ami coughed into her hand as she regained her composure. Closing the 1st grade math book, she started pulling another out of her bookshelf. "Now that we have that done why don't we move on to-,"

*Beep. Beep. Beep.*

Ami's sentence was cut short by the alarm of her communicator. "Sorry, I'll be right back," she said while once again rising from her seat.

"Is it your palm roof thingy again?" Ranma asked.

"Uh, yes. I won't take long, just look over the book I took out.

Once Ami left the room, Ranma gazed at the new book in front of him titled _An Introduction to Japanese History._ "Pass."

After a few more minutes, Ami hustled back into the room. Grabbing her purse, she moved towards the door.

"Woah Ami, where's the fire?" the pig-tailed boy called out.

"I'm sorry Ranma, something came up. It looks like we'll have to cut this lesson short. We'll pick up here next time, bye." After the door closed Ranma just recovered from the sudden turn of events.

"Well, I might as well head home then. This 'history' stuff seemed boring anyways." Picking up his bag, the cursed martial artist promptly departed the Mizuno household.

XXXX

"There it is!" Sailor Moon called out to the rest of the Senshi, pointing out the raging, chimera-like creature further down the street.

"Alright guys, let's take this thing out," Jupiter said while cracking her knuckles. Before they could even ready an attack, however, the youma seemed to shimmer and slowly fade out of existence, eventually flickering out like a light.

Halting their full on charge, the Senshi stared puzzled at the space the part lion, part snake, part gryphon creature had occupied only moments ago.

"A, hologram?" Mercury asked aloud.

*Clap.* *Clap.* *Clap.*

The Senshi's gazes snapped towards the top of a building where they saw a long black haired woman in a dark cloak clapping slowly.

"Bravo Sailor Mercury you are correct. That was a hologram," the women said in a slightly high pitch voice. She finished clapping and quickly flicked her wrists.

It was only Mercury's danger sense that alerted her to rolling away as five throwing knives embedded themselves in the asphalt she previously subjugated.

Jumping down from her perch of the five-story building, the cloaked women landed effortlessly. "These knives, however," she said while removing more black daggers from what seemed like now where, "I can assure you are very much real." Her voice had a sadistic tone to it to accompany her shrewd smile.

Taking up fighting stances, the Senshi grouped together. "Who are you and why are you attacking us?" Moon called.

"Both are irrelevant questions but I shall answer your former. My name is Lyna, that's all you need to know."

Stepping forward, Sailor Moon struck a pose, "Alright Lyna. I am Sailor Moon and these are the beautiful Sailor Senshi of love and justice. Those who disturb the peace and tranquility of this city will face punishment by us."

Lyna gagged, "Ugh, that had to be the cheesiest thing I've ever heard." she quipped while placing a knife between each finger, "I guess it doesn't matter though, it's time to die." Lunging forward, Lyna quickly closed the distance between her and Sailor Moon finishing with fierce swipe that would have decapitated Moon had she not ducked.

_She's fast._ The princess thought as she rolled away from her crouching position. "Everyone, don't let her get close to you."

"Way ahead of you," Jupiter called out a from behind Moon. Jumping into the air, she raised her hands to prepare her spell.

"SUPREME THUNDER!"

The multiple bolts of electricity lashed out towards the cloaked women, who simply sidestepped around each one as if it was part of a routine dance. Ducking away from the last bolt, she jumped into the air, "Is that all?" and promptly let loose the knives she was holding towards the still airborne Jupiter.

"Oh crud." The Senshi of electricity crossed her arms in front of her when she was suddenly pulled out of the firing zone. Landing on the ground, she looked to see Venus retracting her Love-Me Chain. "Thanks Venus."

"No problem," Venus replied. Seeing another salvo of daggers heading in her direction, the Senshi of Love dodged to her left before unleashing her own attack.

"My turn. VENUS LOVE-ME CHAIN!"

When the chain of orange hearts reached its target, Lyna stepped to the side and grabbed it from the air. Before Venus could react, she was violently pulled by her own chain towards her attacker, who threw another set of daggers. Shutting her eyes, the Sailor Venus braced for impact.

"SILENT WALL!"

Opening her eyes, she found herself behind one Sailor Saturn and a shimmering barrier. The knives from a moment ago clattered harmlessly to the ground. Venus let out a sigh of relief as she stood back up. "Woah, thanks Saturn."

"Sorry we're late girls," said the Senshi of Neptune standing next to Saturn.

Walking up behind the other Senshi, Sailor Uranus pointed to the Guardian of Time next to her, "We had to get permission from the 'oh so great keeper of time' here," she said in an annoyed tone.

"My future-self has her lips sealed for the time being so I assume we should fight," Sailor Pluto replied while readying her staff.

Moon nodded to her comrades, "Great, we're all here. Now let's finish this."

"Oh some reinforcements now." Everyone's attention snapped back towards their opponent, who was casually balancing a dagger on the tip of her finger. "Then I have a new trick for you."

"Not if I can help it," Uranus grumbled while charging in. "Now Neptune!"

"DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Leaping into the air, Uranus brandished her sword as the ball of supercharged water passed by beneath her. She began an overhead slice timed to hit just after the deep submerge. The blonde Senshi was surprised, however when the deep submerge reflected off some invisible barrier towards her. "What?!" was all she could say before being hit directly by the aquatic projectile followed by two daggers puncturing her lower abdomen, sending her slamming to the ground.

"Uranus!" Neptune cried out, rushing over to get the injured Senshi out of harm's way.

"Dead Scream." Pluto wasted no time however in launching her own attack however. The ball of pink energy streamed towards Lyna who threw out a group of daggers that hovered in the air and formed a circle. Placing the circle of daggers in front of her, Pluto's attack stopped suddenly inside it, as if it was caught.

The Guardian of Time scowled as she watched her dead scream attack begin to dissipate into the floating knives, which promptly began to glow a sinister purple.

Lyna grinned as she raised her left index finger to the sky. "Nice try. Now for my next trick, watch as I use your own attack's energy against you." Dropping her arm to point at the Senshi, she shouted, "Hell Fire!" Purple streams of light were emitted from the circle of daggers, each one in a flight trajectory towards a different senshi.

"Incoming!" Jupiter shouted. Each senshi dodged away from the oncoming lasers, just barely clearing the way as the light shows carved paths through the pavement. With the exception of Neptune and Uranus, the latter of which was still recovering from the last attack and being helped up by the former.

"Neptune! Uranus! Look out!" Sailor Moon exclaimed. Seeing the incoming attack, Neptune shielded her partner, hoping to minimize damage to Uranus.

A second passed, then another, and another, and still she felt no impact. Cracking open her eyes, she was surprised to find a young boy with black-hair and a pig-tail standing between them and Lyna. Unharmed. Rubbing her eyes to try to shake away the possible hallucination, Neptune again looked to see the boy was still standing there. She tried to find words to say but found she was at a loss.

Lyna scowled at the newcomer to the fight. He appeared to be a normal human boy, but somehow was able to deflect her double charged attack. "And just who are you?" she spat.

Ranma dropped his defensive stance to poke his chest with his thumb. "Well aren't we the impatient one? Ranma Saotome, Anything Goes Martial Artist," this time Ranma dropped into an offensive stance, "and I'll be your opponent now."

Lyna couldn't help but to laugh. "You? A puny little human? If you want to see the sunrise tomorrow I'd advise you run away now. The likes of you could never defeat me," she finished while making a flicking gesture with her hand.

"Ran- er, sir. You need to evacuate the area immediately. It's too dangerous here for civilians," Mercury informed while at the same time berating herself in her head. This area was on the way to Ranma's apartment from her home. Of course he would pass by here.

Glancing over his soldier, Ranma looked at Mercury. "Sorry, uh, person, but that would be going against my code of honor. It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak."

A vein popped out on the side of Mars's head. "Hold on a second. Does that mean that you're calling us weak?"

Ranma placed his chin between his thumb and index finger as he looked pensive. "Well, yeah," he replied, "Unless I'm mistaken, one of your guys is already incapacitated and you haven't seemed to land a single attack even when your number is nine. Add that to the fact you already look pretty worn out and she hasn't even broken a sweat; that seems pretty weak in my book."

"I dare you to say that again," Mars grumbled while raising a shaking fist.

"Um, you all seem pretty weak and should get away from here?" Ranma replied in a confused tone.

Another vein popped up on Mars's head, "That's it, get over here!" The Senshi of fire sprinted towards Ranma, who casually jumped over her head. This time, though, Mars continued suit, shouting a colorful vocabulary of curses and insults all the way.

Lyna sweat dropped as she stared at the scene in front of her. "Uh, I'm still here you know." Seeing as that had no effect, she tried again with a louder voice, "Hey! Are you going to fight or not?!"

"Jeez, a temper like that rivals even Akane's. You guys ever met?" Ranma called over his shoulder to the angry raven haired girl.

"Oh you are _so_ going to get it!" said raven haired senshi replied while picking up her pace.

Now Lyna was fuming, "Don't. Ignore me!" Lashing out her hand, she sent another flurry of daggers flying towards the newly arrived civilian.

Ranma stopped his taunting of Sailor Mars to see the group of very pointy objects coming towards him at a high velocity. Building up ki in his hands, the pig-tailed martial artist swept his arms in front of him leaving a trail of the glittering life energy if front on him. The daggers impacted the ki shield violently, but were completely stopped and fell to the ground. Shimmering for another second, the ki then dissipated away into the atmosphere.

Lyna gaped, along with the rest of the Senshi. "That's impossible!" she spat, "no normal human can do that. What did you do?"

Ranma held up his hand which promptly began to glow again, "It's a new ki manipulation technique I created, Ki Barrier. By emitting a constant stream of ki from my hands, I can create a temporary, but strong shield." Ranma dropped his hand, "Now let me ask you a question. What is your business here and why are you attacking these girls?"

Lyna shook herself out of her daze to reply in a cold tone, "They're in the way of M' lord's plan and therefore must be erased and if you get in my way I'll erase you too."

"M' lord? Sounds old fashioned. Who's your boss?"

"That's something you don't need to know!" lunging forward again, Lyna prepared the same swipe that she had aimed towards Sailor Moon earlier in the battle. Ranma performed a back handspring away, but was surprised to see the cloaked women already following up on her attack. Dodging another flurry of fast swipes and stabs, Ranma managed to get a palm in to knock Lyna back a few meters.

"Ok, so you're fast." Ranma grinned while taking up another stance, "But I'm fast too." Ranma charged in to his opponent.

"Oh this is getting interesting," Lyna charged in as well. The two met and immediately started into another furious blitz of attacks, blocks, and dodges.

Meanwhile, the Senshi gazed on flabbergasted. Moon looked around, "We, we have to help him," she said nervously.

"No. At the rate their fighting at it would be difficult to aim an attack. You might accidentally hit Ranma," Mercury replied.

"But, but we can't just sit here and do nothing, there has to be some way to help," Moon protested.

Sailor Pluto walked to Moon's side, "I know how you feel Sailor Moon but all we can do for now is watch and wait for an opening to attack. Use this time to help Uranus back on her feet and catch your breath. Ranma will be fine, believe me."

Moon was about to protest again but held her mouth and turned to look at the fight again, "Ranma, please don't get hurt."

Said martial artist jumped over a low kick and used the opportunity to spring off of Lyna's shoulders into the air behind her. Turning around, he was greeted by three throwing knives. Twisting away in an impossible angle, he let the deadly weapons sail by while cupping his hands in front of him.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"

The massive ball of blue ki slammed full force into Lyna, crushing her into the ground. Landing nearby, Ranma smirked, "Heh, how's that for you?"

Smoke wafted from the newly created crater in the ground. Eventually, a silhouette rose from inside. Ranma's grin disappeared when Lyna emerged from the crater with nothing more than a scratch on her left arm.

As Lyna dusted off the sleeve of her cloak, she said, "I have to admit, you caught me off guard there. I wasn't able to completely shield myself. I didn't know a human could use such an attack. I underestimated you, but," Lyna finished brushing her sleeve to look back at Ranma, a steely expression on her face, "it won't happen again."

Ranma snapped out of his daze and took up another stance, "I wouldn't have it any other way." _So she's got a good defense on top of being fast. Add that to the fact that I have a feeling that she hasn't shown me all of her abilities yet and this leaves me with few options. I'll just have to keep looking for chances to break her guard and get in a few solid attacks. _Ranma's combat analytical mind continued to assess the situation and ran through possible methods of attack in his brain even as he dodged more thrown knives, noting that the speed, accuracy, and rate of fire had increased.

Dodging, twisting away, and blocking the knives, Ranma saw an opportunity to grab an incoming projectile from the air. Doing so, he returned the deadly weapon back to its sender. Lyna stopped throwing her knives to dodge it, giving Ranma the small window of opportunity he had been looking for.

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"

Ranma was getting ready for a follow-up attack when he stopped in surprise as his ki bolt was trapped in the center of a ring of rotating daggers. His mood dropped further as he saw it absorbed into said ring and charge up energy.

"Uh-oh."

Ranma caught a glance of a grinning Lyna just before the multiple lasers were fired. Ranma immediately went into evasive maneuvers as the beams of energy sped towards him at breakneck speed. Unfortunately, there were too many lasers coming from too many angles and it wasn't long before Ranma failed to detect a beam about to flank him until it was too late.

*BZZZzzzzT!*

The impact sent Ranma flying; however he twisted around in the air to land unevenly on his feet. Falling to a knee, he regained his composure while nursing his right arm.

"Impressive," Lyna chimed, "despite not seeing my attack until the last second you still managed to throw one of those shields of yours up to minimize the damage. Although it still looks like it hit you pretty hard."

"What this?" Ranma replied in his cocky tone while wiping a little blood from his mouth, "This is nothin'. I've had worse."

"Well aren't you special."

"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"

"CRESCENT BEAM!"

"BURNING MANDALA!"

*Insert other Senshi attacks that I'm too lazy to type here.*

The magical attacks all converged onto the dark-haired assassin at once, who barely managed to move out of the way in time.

"Forget about us?" Turning around, Lyna was greeted to the sight of nine fully recovered Senshi, including Uranus.

"Tch, you're nothing but a nuisance," Lyna scowled.

Ranma sighed, "You can say that again."

That familiar vein popped up on the side of Mars's head. "Would you stop talking to us like were some defenseless little girls already?! We can fight too you know."

"Oh come off it, this is getting old now," Lyna said.

"Shut up!" Mars snapped. "Look, just fight us alright. I need to let off some steam."

Forming her ring of daggers Lyna replied, "Fine by me," before firing a set of lasers.

Caught off guard, the Senshi attempted to dodge out of the way, some of them be barely grazed by the searing lasers. Coming back into a standing position Sailor Moon looked at Lyna with a puzzled gaze, "What, but I thought you could only use that attack if you absorbed one of ours."

With the daggers now orbiting around her, Lyna replied, "Correct but what you didn't know was that I never used all of that power I absorbed. I stockpiled most of it to use later and I have to say the amount of energy from those two attacks alone will last me a while."

"Then I just won't use my Moko Takabisha anymore," everyone turned to see Ranma clenching his fist. "Instead let's give this a shot." Ranma rushed in and was met by a vicious flurry of swipes from Lyna. Sweeping his hand, Ranma created a Ki Barrier which blocked one of the incoming swipes. Following through with same motion, Ranma then thrust his palm into the shield, shattering it and sending several razor sharp shards tearing into Lyna.

Lyna yelped slightly and jumped away, nursing her right leg. Breathing heavily she murmured, "Well aren't you just full of surprises."

"Likewise. I call it Shield Blast, for obvious reasons. Since it created so many tiny shards you can't absorb them." _It also has a super short range but she doesn't needa know that._

Ranma turned around and pointed a finger at Sailor Neptune, "Hey seaweed head." Neptune started in surprise at both being addressed suddenly and in such a name. "You look competent enough. I'm gonna rush in and distract her. When I give you the signal, launch one of those sparkly thing-a-ma-jigs." Before Neptune could even respond Ranma launched himself at Lyna.

Uranus turned to look at her soul mate, who was now twisting a lock of her hair in her finger. Uranus's eyes widened as she noticed the look on Neptune's face. "Neptune. Don't do it," she said firmly.

"Seaweed head?" the senshi of water whispered.

"He didn't mean it just calm down."

"My hair isn't like seaweed. It just has a slight tinge of green."

"I know it doesn't now just- Wait what are you doing? Put your hands down."

"No one calls me seaweed head! Go drown you jerk! DEEP SUBMERGE!"

Uranus put a hand to her forehead, "Aw hell."

The ball of super condensed magical water sped towards the two combatants with surprising speed. The only thing Ranma could think of as he jumped away from Lyna last second was, _Oh of _course _I chose the one with a water based attack._

Meanwhile, Lyna, not having enough time to form her absorption ring, brought her hand full of daggers around to swipe and deflect the attack away towards airborne Ranma.

Ranma threw up a quick Ki Barrier and deflected it as well onto the roof of the building behind him, impacting some metal structure. Landing again, the pig-tailed martial artist wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Phew, close call."

*Splash!*

Everyone in the nearby vicinity, including Lyna, blinked twice as they watched the figure of Ranma slightly shrink. The shade of his hair turned red and his (her?) chest expanded. Everyone stood motionless as they stared at the drenched red-headed girl. With a pig-tail, and with Ranma's clothes on.

With her arms crossed and a dissatisfied look on her face, Ranko blew away a lock of hair covering her eye. "And of _COURSE_ there would be a water tower there!" she exclaimed.

"Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh?!" reverberated around the streets.

"Ranko? But you- Ranma- there. What?!" Sailor Moon stuttered.

Uncrossing her arms, Ranko faced Moon, "Yeah, I'm a girl now big deal." She twirled her index finger in the air, "Can we get on with this? I needa hit somethin'."

Lyna continued to stare at the red-head before shaking her head and stomping her foot fiercely. "Ok that's it! I've had enough of this crap! This ends now!" The cloaked assailant raised her arms to the sky where the ring of daggers formed once again. This time, however, sinister looking energy crackled between the gaps of the knives. "No more play time. The gloves are coming off." Bolts of energy sparked around Lyna, making it dangerous to get too close.

Ranko prepared herself to move at the first sign of danger, "Look out girls. Something's comin'."

The rest of the Senshi were still dumb-struck (with the exception of Pluto) from the recent transformation, but, sensing the coming danger, snapped out of it. Taking up a defensive formation, the Senshi braced for what's to come. "You've got some explaining to do after this," Jupiter murmured to Ranko.

"No one's forcing me."

At the same time, Mercury blinked as a reading popped up on her visor. _An unstable energy source at the apex of the ring? A point-blank attack might disrupt it, stopping the attack and severely damaging its user but it would have to be now. No time to tell the other girls, I have to attack now!_ This thought process occurred in the span of maybe a second in Mercury's super-computer like mind. Rushing in, Mercury ignored the surprised calls behind her as she sprinted full speed towards her target.

Lyna scowled at the oncoming aggressor. Just a few more seconds and her attack would be ready. Until then she had to hold them off. Seeing the clumsy form of Sailor Mercury though, it didn't seem like a difficult feat.

Approaching her target, Mercury leaped for the rings, preparing a Shabon Spray at the same time. _Just a little further, _she thought, grimacing at the multiple burns forming on her skin from the multiple bolts of energy surrounding Lyna. _Allllmooost._ Reaching her arms out, Mercury suddenly gasped as she felt the air forcibly expelled from her lungs by a fierce kick from Lyna. Following through, the assailant propelled Mercury out of the immediate vicinity into a pile of rubble nearby, nearly completely covering her. All while still charging up her attack.

The Senshi called out but received no answer. Lyna finished charging her attack and aimed it at the capitulated Mercury. Bright lights were emitted from Lyna's hand as she fired off a spiraling coil of searing energy. Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and all sound muted for Mercury as she watched the massive beam of energy approach her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered the muffled cries of her comrades, but it didn't matter at this point. How careless of her. How could she have not considered such a thing? Seeing her imminent demise approaching, the Senshi of Mercury closed her eyes, and waited.

*Pa-CHOOM! Patang-tang-tang!*

That's strange. She felt no pain, nor uneasiness. Was this death? Has she just now left the plane of existence? Another moment passed and she felt something drip onto her face. Was she still alive? But how? Cracking open her eyes, her vision blurred, Mercury gazed upon some figure looming directly over her. As her vision cleared, she discerned red hair, a pig-tail, and finally a pair of expressive blue eyes. Mercury continued to stare at the face of Ranko, who was on hands and knees shielding Mercury's body, a slight smile on her face.

"Ran- ko?" she whispered. Felling more liquid drip onto her face, Mercury brought a hand up to wipe her face of the substance. Bringing her gloved hand in front of her, she saw that it was red. Putting two and two together, Mercury gathered the courage to look further down Ranko's body and was horrified at what she beheld.

Piercing completely through Ranko's abdomen were three iron stakes, each in a position that made a perfect triangle. To go along with that, Mercury could tell by her sides that Ranko's back was severely burned as well. Blood drizzled down the stakes and onto the ground around her, rapidly creating an expanding pool. Another drop of blood dropped onto her face, snapping Mercury out of her stupor.

"Ranko, but. . .why?" she muttered.

The smile on the pig-tailed girl's face widened ever so slightly, "It's a martial artists *cough* to protect the weak. Even *cough* at the risk of your life." Turning to her side, Ranko gave a violent cough, splattering blood on the concrete not already painted red.

Mercury continued to stare straight up, wide-eyed. "But. . . but you didn't have to. . ." she trailed off, not being able to find the proper words to say. Tears began to well up in her eyes.

Bringing her gaze back to Mercury, "It's ok. I'll *cough* be ok, ok? This. . .is. . .nothin'," Ranko's body began to sway. Her body went limp and seemed to collapse in slow motion, "A-mi."

Ranko's head fell onto to Mercury's lap, where it laid motionless. "Ranko?" Mercury squeaked, nudging the head in her lap. "Ranko! Ranko!", now Mercury was shaking her entire body, " No you can't die! You can't!" Seeing as still no movement came from the mass in her hands, Mercury pulled it into an embrace. Bringing two up fingers up to the coronary artery, she waited for the faintest of beats, but felt none. "Wake up. Please Ranko, please. Don't go," she cried, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Don't die, please."

The End…

AS IF!

XXXX

Darkness. Everywhere was darkness. There was no sound either, nor smell, nor taste. Just darkness. So this is what it's like to be dead?

Suddenly a small sparkle of light floated down from above some unknown location. It stopped for a few seconds before it began to shine more brightly, growing and growing until it began to take shape. In the end, Ranma's girl form stood before a now male Ranma. Her hair was untied and flowed freely in some invisible wind. She seemed to be naked, as did Ranma, but the darkness in the atmosphere covered various parts of their bodies. For what seemed like a minute, the two just stared at each other, floating aimlessly in an empty space.

Finally, Ranma spoke up, "Who are you?" he asked in a calm voice.

"I am you," the girl replied in an equally relaxed tone.

"Then who am I?"

"You are Ranma Saotome."

"Then you're Ranma Saotome too?"

"No, I am me."

"Then if you are me, and I am Ranma, and you aren't Ranma, then you are you?" Ranma scratched his head in confusion.

"No, I am you."

"Argh," Ranma ruffled his hands through his hair, clearly frustrated at the lack of progress in the conversation.

The girl in front of him giggled innocently, "Be at ease" she said, "Those answers will come to you in time. More importantly, do you know why you are here?"

Ranma scratched his head, "Well, I remember being hit by that attack and, bam, I'm here. Speaking of which, where is this place?"

"Inside your consciousness."

Ranma looked around him in all directions, "Jeez, I never knew Akane was right about my head being hollow."

"This is only a temporary state of mind for the situation at hand. Currently, your body has lost nearly all of its life energy. In a few more minutes, all of it will drain away and it will be impossible for you return to life." The girl took on a more serious gaze. "But you don't want that to happen do you."

Ranma looked down and thought about the question. There were a few rare instances in his life where he seriously thought taking away his life would better the world, as well as be his only escape from his daily hell. Then he remembered his trip with his dad. The memories he acquired at the Tendo Dojo, both good and bad. He remembered rescuing Akane from Saffron and their wedding being ruined. No, he couldn't die yet. There were too many people in his life that he needed to protect. He couldn't just leave them in the dust.

Looking back up again, Ranma clenched his fist as he replied, "What do I do?"

The girl smiled. Unlike many Ranma had seen before, hers was sincere, compassionate smile. "You already know the answer. Just do what comes naturally."

Ranma was about to pretest when the girl put of finger to his lips, "Shh, it will be ok. All mistakes can be fixed with time."

After a quick blink Ranma, the girl removed her finger. The pig-tailed just gazed at the girl for a moment, then closed his eyes and concentrated. Words began to ring in his head. He didn't know where they came from, since he had never heard them before in his life, but they seemed like he knew them all along.

Opening his eyes again, a steely determination etched into his face, he began, "Sun Star Power. . ." A brilliant light shone between the two that continued to grow and engulf the darkness.

XXXX

". . .MAKE UP!" Back in the plane of reality, the two words rang forth about the streets, seeming to hang in the air even after the sound was no more. A sparkle shone forth from the sun. An instant later, a large beam of light shot down onto the pile of rubble where Ranko's body was buried. There it continued to shine, until the red-headed girl's body emerged from the rubble and was suspended. Her pig-tail came untied to let her mane of red hair flow below her shoulders. Her clothes dissolved away to be replaced with a dark red skirted sailor fuku with red high heel boots, similar to Jupiter's, that came just over her ankles. Flames swirled around her arms, leaving behind white gloves with red-trim as they dissipated. An orange ribbon adorned her chest while a yellow one that flowed down to her knees on the rear of her skirt. A crystal-shaped ruby materialized on her forehead, shortly followed by a gold tiara.

When the transformation was complete, Sailor Sun's eyes snapped open as she floated down, gently touching the ground. Taking in her surroundings, she saw all the Senshi, battered and bruised. They were pinned to various surfaces by daggers, buried by debris, or slumped again a building. They were alive, though, for she could sense all of their ki still circulating throughout their bodies. Their near closed eyes gazed at her with a dreary awe. Turning to her side, Sailor Sun beheld the cause of the situation.

Lyna stood motionless at the newly transformed Sailor Sun. Her face was expressionless as she spoke, "So it seems you're more than just a human."

Sailor Sun glanced down at her now gloved hands. She twisted and turned to look at the rest of her fuku clad body.

Then gagged. "Ack, gross! How'd I end up in this thing?" she complained as she tugged at her gloves. "Hey what's the big deal? Why aren't these things comin' off?" As Sun pulled on her skirt and ribbons, she became increasingly more annoyed at the magical garments. However, she could tell that there was some sort of power in these girly clothes, and it was transmitting to her.

Sun's danger sense went off and directed her attention away from the fashion dilemma. Moving in all manner of directions, she evaded a downpour of daggers from above, followed by a massive energy beam that she back-flipped away from.

"That's weird," she muttered, "I feel much faster than normal, even for my girl form."

"Well, you won't have to worry about it for much longer. Not where you're going," Lyna spat. "You've been a thorn in my _side_," the last word was said with emphasis as Lyna pitched another flurry of daggers, "for far too _long_. I'll kill you _first, _then come back and finish _others_," she finished, each emphasized word followed by a salvo of throwing knives, all of which Sun evaded.

Lyna leveled both of her arms at Sun, who prepared to dodge. Without warning, daggers shot out of Lyna's robe's sleeves like a machine gun. Bolting away from the incoming danger, Sun sprinted to her left, hoping to have evaded only a short burst of daggers. She was disappointed, however, when the daggers continued to discharge at the same frightening rate. _Crap, I can't keep this up. I've gotta find an opening or make one and quick._ Feeling the unknown power inside her again, Sun re-thought her tactics. _Well, now's as good a time as any to try it out._

Dashing towards a nearby building, the fuku clad red-head raced up the face of the five-story structure, daggers embedding themselves in the edifice immediately behind her. Reaching the apex, Sun back flipped off the ledge and twisted around to Lyna. She wasted no time in preparing her attack, as the storm of daggers approached her. _Here goes nothin'_. Focusing her power in her fists, Sun punched the air at a Chestnut Fist speed. Each punch however, fired of a beam of fiery white light that streaked towards and deflected a dagger. Sun kept up this furious pace, the force of her attack seeming to keep her suspended in air. _Come on, come on. I have to break through. _ The impact zone of Sun's and Lyna's attacks glowed from the numerous sparks emitted.

Sun's eyes scrutinized every little aspect of the two attacks, looking for the opening she needed. Her eyes snapped fully open when she saw her chance. _Right there!_ Sun fired one more beam of light that soared straight through a small gap in the barrage of daggers. Sailing straight and true, the beam of light impacted its target in the side.

Lyna staggered from the hit, causing her to cease fire. The attack didn't hit hard, but it was just enough to make her lose focus. That loss of focus nearly lost her the battle, however, as she barely rolled to her side to avoid the plummeting form of Sun. Smoke wafted up from the resulting crater.

"Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken Revised," said the voice within, "Radiant Shine."

Lyna squinted as she saw a silhouette appear in the smoke. A scene similar to her predicament earlier, but reversed. Grinning she replied, "Don't get cocky because you got one hit in. You still-," Lyna stopped short of her sentence when she realized that there was more to the silhouette than just a human form. Her eyes widened as it became more and more noticeable. "Impossible," she muttered, "No, it can't be it, that's impossible." By the time Sailor Sun became fully visible, Lyna was frozen with shock.

Held in Sun's left arm and resting on her shoulder was a large scythe. The crimson handle seemed to be just more than half as long as Sun herself. Etched into the pole were various extravagant carvings that twisted and curled and spiraled in all manners of ways. The blade was even more extraordinary. Starting about as wide two fists side by side, it curves and narrows into an acute point that sparkled in the sunlight. The upper half was crimson like the handle and below it was dark as night. Carvings also snaked their way through the metal in various directions, but seemed to be of different design than the handle's.

Lyna continued to stare on dumbstruck, her brain incapable of formulating a response. "Reapers Folly," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that? Didn't quite hear you," Sun asked while cupping her free hand to her ear.

"Where did you get that?" Lyna replied, ignoring Sun's question completely.

The fuku clad red-head blinked, then brought her massive scythe around to hold in both hands. "What this? Oh, I dunno, it just felt like it was there and I just had to reach out and grab it. It just felt natural ya know what I'm sayin'?" Sun waited for a response, but when she received none and the same dull stare she said, "Ok c'mon, you can't get _that_ intimidated when your opponent pulls out a weapon. If I was like that I'd never win against Mousse."

Another moment of silence passed before Lyna finally spoke up, "Impossible. I won't accept it. You can't have Reapers Folly, you can't!"

"Reapers Folly?" Sun asked in a perplexed tone, "Is that what this thing's called?"

"Shut up and die!" the assassin screamed as she rushed at Sun haphazardly.

Sun dodged the initial swipe with ease, and deflected the next few. Lyna's attacks seemed sluggish and sloppy to Sun, nothing like the fierce and efficient barrages of before. Still dancing around Lyna's strikes effortlessly, Sun commented, "Jeez, what's gotten into you? This scythe mean somethin' to you?"

"Shut up, Shut up, SHUT UP!" Lyna screamed, pure anger carved into her face.

"Whatever floats your boat." Something registered in the back of Sun's mind as she deflected another swipe. The ki in the area was slowly but gradually stirring. Sun's eyes widened in realization of what it meant. The other Senshi were beginning to stir and recover. They were beginning to come to again. _Crap! I completely forgot about them. I can't let this battle drag on much longer or they might get hurt even more._ As she ended her thought, Sun's feet began to glow as she drew Lyna into a tight spiral.

Seeing an overhead strike approaching, Sun angled the handle of her scythe letting the attack impact and slide to the ground. Following through on the same motion, Sun brought the butt end of the handle onto the ground, using it to pole-vault away. Landing a few meters away Sun turned back around to see her opponent snarling. Speaking in a calm and even tone she said, "This battle is over. You have lost."

"Like hell it is! I'm still perfectly alive which means you can still die." She shouted, throwing a single dagger at the last word. Only to have it collide into an invisible wall directly in front of Sun half a second later. As the dagger fell to the ground Lyna gaped, and then at the area in space it was stopped at. "What? But how?"

Sun made a gesture with her hand as she replied, "Take a look below you." Lyna complied and took a glance at the ground around her. Her eyes widened at what they be held. Carved into the ground around her were the same sigils that adorned Sun's scythe, completely surrounding her in all directions. Lyna threw more daggers arbitrarily, only to have them stopped at the edge of the magic circle. Even the daggers thrown straight up were blocked. "You were so pre-occupied attacking me that you never even noticed how I was creating this circle as we moved around. There's no escape from that barrier."

Sun heard various sounds behind her that signaled that the other Senshi were beginning to stand up again. "You girls stay back," she said without even turning around, "Things are about to get hot." Sun didn't know why she knew how to execute these attacks, but for the moment it didn't matter as long as they got the job done.

Bringing her scythe to bear in a vertical position in front of her, Sun closed her eyes and began to focus her ki (was it ki?) into her weapon. As she did so, the carvings on the handle and blade began to glow a soft orange. Holding this position for a few more seconds, Sun snapped open her eyes, boring her gaze directly at Lyna. Raising her scythe above her head, she began to twirl it with both hands at a furious speed. "Hiryuu Shoten Ha Revised," she began. After another second, Sun stopped her twirling abruptly. "BLAZING PHOENIX ACENSION!" Swinging in a downward arc with all her might, Sun plowed the point of her scythe into the edge of the magic circle. The sigils in the ground immediately lit up in a brilliant light, becoming brighter and brighter with each passing moment.

*FWOOOOOSH!*

The circle erupted into a flaring fiery cyclone, incinerating almost anything unlucky enough to be inside. The blazing storm roared on for what seemed an eternity, illuminating the now dusk sky in a brilliant glow. The flaring tornado extended as high as the eye could see, looking as if it reached Kami-sama himself.

Sun removed the point of her scythe from the ground, causing the blazing cyclone to gradually shrink and, eventually, completely extinguish. The earth left behind was charred to such a crisp black, that it was difficult to discern the dark robed figure in the center of the destruction. How the garment were not ashes was a mystery.

Sun gazed on expressionless, before saying, "C'mon, get up. I know you're not dead, I held back on purpose so you wouldn't. Killing ain't my thing."

The charred form remained still for another moment, before it slowly began to stagger back to its feet. Still swaying side to side and tottering forward, Lyna said in a barely audible tone, "I'm. . . not done with you yet bitch. *cough* I'll kill you. I'll *cough* definitely kill all of you. I'll-,"

*Ka-Shink!*

Lyna was interrupted when she suddenly found herself without energy. Perhaps it was just the result of the attack she had just broiled by, or possibly because of the long black sword protruding from her stomach. Gagging up a large amount of blood, she used the last of her waning strength to turn her head to look over her shoulder. Glaring back at her were a pair of blood-red eyes under a dark hood. "M'- lord," she managed to whisper.

The man spoke in a serious tone, "Face it Lyna. You have lost this battle. I have no need for failures." Withdrawing his sword from Lyna's abdomen, he sheathed it at his waist as the body fell to the ground. There it laid still, a pool of blood developing around it.

Sun and the other Senshi (now standing by her side) stared on motionless. Moon had a horrified expression on her face. She could see in the eyes. They were dull; there was no life behind them.

The cloaked man turned to look at the Senshi. It was impossible to tell exactly who he was looking at from behind the hood. "Ah, I was wondering who could be putting a dent in my plans. Now it all makes sense." He said in a nonchalant, carefree voice, completely different from the cold, steely tone he had used moments before.

The sudden change in atmosphere helped Moon snap out of her trance. "Why did you kill her?" she asked, "Wasn't she your ally?"

"Oh what this?" he replied while kicking the body of Lyna to where it turned onto its back, eliciting a squeal from the Moon Princess. "She was just a broken tool, and when a tool can't perform its job you throw it away."

"That horrible!" Sailor Mars exclaimed.

"Is it? It seems like common sense to me. Ah how rude of myself, I haven't introduced myself yet have I?" Not waiting for a response, the man reached for his hood and pulled it back. Sun's eyes widened at the sight.

He was a fairly young looking man with slightly dark skin. A lock of his ruffled brown hair drooped between his eyes which seemed to complement the rugged feature of his face. It wasn't any of these traits that caught Sun's attention, however, but his eyes. His blood-red eyes. Where had she seen those before?

"My name is Zan Dusken, a pleasure to meet all of you. Ah, but it seems that one of you already know me, isn't that right Talana Reva, or should I say Sailor Sun?"

All the Senshi turned to Sailor Sun, whose body was now visibly trembling. Those eyes. Why do they make her feel this way. She had felt this way maybe once in her life, and that was in extremely dire circumstances. Then why? Why do those eyes make her blood boil? Why does she feel this pure, inexplicable rage to kill him, the same rage that he felt towards Saffron. Sun clenched her scythe so tightly her palms began to bleed from the sharp edges of the carvings.

"What's wrong Talana? Don't you recognize me?" Zan said while spreading his arms.

Sun's last bit of restraint was instantly vaporized. She sprung forward with a force that shattered the concrete below her. With a vengeful scream, she brought her scythe around in a strike to behead Zan, only for him to block it at the last moment with his sword. The force of the impact sent shockwaves careening throughout the air. A small crater formed around the two combatants as Sun continued to press against the sword with all her might. "That's better," Zan said in a sly tone, a grin creeping onto his face, "I knew you wouldn't have forgotten about me that easily." As he continued to lazily hold Sun's strike away with one hand he caught a glance at her eyes. Her left was it normal crystal blue color but the right was glowing orange, both expressing anger beyond compare. "Those eyes, how nostalgic no? I'm sure you think the same of mine."

Sun growled as she withdrew her scythe from Zan's sword to come back around overhead, "Shut. UP!" she cried. Zan casually jumped away from the attack, coming to land on top of a nearby building. Sun build up energy into her scythe and swung it horizontally in the air, emitting a fiery shockwave aimed at the object of her fury. Once again, Zan nonchalantly brought his sword down on the attack the moment it was in front of him, instantly dissipating it.

"I'm afraid that's all the time I have for now to play with you," he said while sheathing his sword once more. "I'll be sure to rethink my strategy now that I know you're involved Talana. For now I bid you good-bye." Ending with a bow, Zan vanished in an instant. Just before Sun's scythe whirled by where his head had just been.

Catching her scythe on the return arc, Sun let out a primal scream, letting everyone in the immediate vicinity of her rage. She punched the ground repeatedly, leaving cracks and craters with each strike, as she bellowed, "Dammit Zan! Get back her you coward!"

The other Senshi continued to look on with puzzled and worried looks. Jupiter leaned over to Mars and whispered, "So much has happened I don't know what to think. Who is she again?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Finally, Sun stopped reducing the area around her to rubble. Breathing heavily, she stood wearily back up.

"Is she done?" Jupiter asked. A moment later, the red-headed Senshi collapsed to the ground. Immediately, the other Senshi rushed to her side.

Panicking, Sailor Moon held the now unconscious Sun in her arms. "W-what's wrong with her?" she sputtered while gently shaking Sun's head to wake her up. Moon felt her hand become wet and warm and looked to see her glove soaking with blood. She squealed as she pulled her hand away and looked at the rest of Sun's body. In three different areas blood was beginning to soak through the fuku, gradually turning it a similar color as her skirt.

"It's her injuries from before," Pluto spoke, "They never fully healed."

"You mean to tell me that she was fighting the entire time with those holes in her?!" Mars exclaimed, flabbergasted.

"They have already partially healed but that's not important right now. Bring her to my house; we'll care for her there. I also have some things to explain to you girls."

The other Senshi nodded and Sailor Uranus picked up the unconscious Sailor Sun, a little put off by how light she felt.

End Ch4

Author's Notes: Well there you have it. I hope it was worth the wait. Now for a few statements.

Opening Scene: Now I know you're wondering what the heck went on there. One day, me and my two friends (who will be referred to as SovetskyCapitalist and Glynn) were having our normal lunch at school in our normal spot. Suddenly, out of the blue, Glynn asked, "Hey [SovetskyCapitalist], what's your girlfriend's bra size?" Promptly afterwards he was Russian bitch slapped by Sovetsky and axe kicked by yours truly. I just couldn't help but make fun of him in here. And to commemorate this momentous occasion, I will now have a quote from our daily lives at the end of each chapter. Here's the first one:

Screaming at the top of his lungs, "That's right little kids I said fuck! That's right fuck! F-U-C-FUCKING-K!" –SovetskyCapitalist

Ranma in a Fuku: Yup, it's a fuku fic to the disappointment of many of you I'm sure. Sorry but I was already set on this from the start of my fic. I like fuku fics. Yeah it's been done before but so have a lot of other really good fics. Those reviews did spur an idea in me, however. I could easily make this a non-fuku fic if I so desired, so after I finish this fic, or maybe even before, I'll make another one that is practically identical up to this point, but Ranma won't be fuku-fied. It definitely sounds like fun to write as well.

Sun's Scythe: I wanted to give her a weapon and a sword seemed too boring, a lance was already used by Saturn, and I couldn't see her using an axe. Solution: a scythe. I think it turned out pretty well.

Sun's Outfit: I was trying to stay away from the stereotypical Sailor Sun outfit when it hit me. IT DOESN'T MATTER. The design of the fuku has absolutely no effect on the story so therefore I just used the stereotypical design. There's no need to be creative on this one.

Mercury's Reaction to Death: Some of you may think that Mercury overreacted to Ranma's "death" considering her relationship with him. But think about it, if anyone you even remotely know well is dying right in front of you, you're going to cry if you have a heart.

Well lots of questions were raised this chapter and many of them will be explained in the next. I will probably lose a lot of readers now that it is clear this is a fuku-fic but oh well. For those of you who don't mind fuku-fics, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will review it thoughtfully. Winter break is right around the corner so I'll be able to get a lot of Ch5 done then. Until then.

P.S. I hate high school junior year. -_- That is all.


	6. Chapter 5: Boys Will be Girls?

Author's Notes: I'm not going to say anything except I'm sorry. There are no excuses for why this took me so long.

I'd like to thank all of you for continuing to read my fic, though, even with my extremely slow updates. I know it's difficult to hold interest in a fic that rarely updates so it really means a lot to me for those who are still reading it after a year.

I do not own Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon and I cannot make any money off of them.

The Only Constant

Chapter 5: Boys Will Be. . . Girls?

". . .ko." What was that? A voice? "Ran. . . ake. . .p." There it was again, but what was it trying to say? "Ran. . . Ranko. Wake up Ranko."

As the voice finally registered in the back of her mind, Ranko's eyes shot open. Her vision was blurred, but she could make out that she was indoors somewhere. As she saw that she was surrounded by a group of fuzzy figures, it was probably safe to assume that there were more people accompanying the owner of the voice that had awoken her initially.

As the haze on her mind and sight began to clear, Ranko saw that she was lying on a sofa in a modest living room, encircled by the same group of girls in the same goofy outfits that she had rescued earlier. Wait a minute, rescued? That meant. . .

Sailor Mercury jumped away from her seat next to Ranko when the red-head suddenly shot up into an erect posture. Panic was in the girl's eyes as Ranko frantically patted down her own body. A second later, however, a calm seemed to come over her as she let out a sigh of relief, "Oh thank Kami-sama I'm not in that get-up. It must've been – gurgh!" Ranko's sentence was cut short as she gritted her teeth and clenched her side.

Sailor Mercury came back over after the outburst and gently pushed Ranko back down. "Now now Ranko-san, you're still injured. Don't overexert yourself, please just lie down and rest for now."

"Injured?" Ranko blinked once before actually looking at her chest and abdomen. Sure enough, she was in her regular Chinese shirt outfit, but underneath it she was wrapped all around by bandages. Judging by the fact that a near empty roll sat on the table next to her, they had either been used many times before, or hers had been changed multiple times since she was unconscious.

Laying her head back on the pillow, a shadow crept back onto Ranko's face. "So if I'm injured, that means I was in. . . that?" she finished unsurely as she pointed at Mercury's outfit. Everyone in the room nodded in unison as Ranko's hand fell limp against the side of the sofa. "I think I'm gonna be sick," she mumbled while pulling her blanket up over her eyes.

It wasn't long until the sheet was flung off her by the green haired, black skirted woman. "You can be sick later," she declared, "We have matters to discuss at the moment."

Reaching over, Sailor Moon grabbed the blanket from Pluto's hand. "Don't be so rough with her," she complained. Turning back to Ranko, Moon replaced the sheet on the wounded girl. "Don't worry, we just have a few things to discuss then we're done," she spoke in a soothing voice.

"Pff, I dunno even know why I havta be here. I don't even know who you guys are 'cept for Ami over there," Ranko replied in an annoyed tone while gesturing to Mercury. Said Senshi looked away and rotated her right foot around on its toes. She still wasn't used to being called her civilian name in Senshi form.

"Oh, so if you knew who we are you would cooperate with us?" Sailor Pluto inquired while moving around the couch to be directly in Ranko's line of sight.

Slightly miffed, Ranko replied, "Well, _maybe_ I would. At least it'd make it less awkward."

Nodding, Pluto replied in an even tone, "Very well, have it your way." The Senshi in the room jumped back in shock when bright lights enveloped the Guardian of Time that signaled her de-transformation into civilian form. When it ended, one Setsuna Meioh stood before a very startled Ranko.

"Me-Meioh-san?" the red-head stuttered.

Addressing the equally startled Senshi in the room, Setsuna commanded, "Girls, revert back to your civilian forms."

"But-," Sailor Mars started.

"Just do it."

The Senshi hesitated for moment before looking at each other and nodding. Soon, the whole room was full of the same vibrant light shows that surrounded Pluto moments before. A few seconds later, five familiar girls and three unfamiliar ones stood in the room.

Her jaw hanging as if on broken hinges, Ranko brought her head off the pillow as she turned to each girl. "Rei? Minako? Makoto? USAGI?" the last name had extra astonishment in it.

"Hey! It's not _that_ surprising is it?" the accused blonde pouted.

Ignoring the small outburst, Rei stepped forward with a sympathetic look on her face. Kneeling down in front of Ranko, she gazed directly into her startled eyes. "Look, even after all that's happened I know this must be quite a shock for you," she said gently.

"No, not really," she stated flatly, her expression changed to one of placidity in a fraction of a second.

*THUD!*

Everyone in the room with the exception of, as usual, Setsuna felt the sudden increase in G-force to their cranial cavities.

Being the first to stagger back up, Rei shook her fist in front of Ranko's face as she shouted in a now irritated tone, "What do you mean, 'Not really'? You were so surprised a second ago that you could hardly even talk!"

Looking away from Rei's reddened face and up at the ceiling, Ranko stated plainly, "Like I said before, I've seen some pretty crazy stuff in my life and you girls being magical protectors of whatever it is you claim to protect doesn't even come CLOSE to topping them. I just thought it would be interesting to act surprised, and it was." Ranko looked around the room at each girl again before gazing back up at the ceiling. "What you guys do in your free-time is your business. It has nothing to do with me."

"Actually Saotome-san it has a great deal to do with you." Everyone turned back to Setsuna. "That is what we're all here to discuss. Now you said if we showed you who we were you would consider listening."

Ranko sighed and crossed her arms in front of her and closed her eyes while she turned away from Setsuna, "Fine just try to make it quick, k'?" she pouted. Then Ranko's eyes snapped open in realization, "Oh! But first, could I get some hot water?"

"But of course," Setsuna replied, "I even took the liberty of preparing it while you were unconscious." Turning on her heels, the green-haired woman disappeared through the doorway into the kitchen.

The remaining girls turned towards each other and shrugged in confusion. Why Ranko wanted hot water now of all times was beyond them. Perhaps if they had made the connection between the water tower incident and Ranko's transformation earlier that day, they could have put two-and-two together and come to the correct conclusion. Alas, this was not the case so when Setsuna returned with a warm kettle of water and Ranko poured it over her head, the typical reaction ensued.

"EEEEEEEEEEEK!" Usagi shouted while jumping back and pointing a shaking figure at a now steaming Ranma Saotome. "I-i-i-it's Ranma!" The other girls didn't have as severe a reaction as Usagi, but they all had similar expressions of disbelief on their faces.

Ranma rolled his eyes as he prepared his explanation, "Jeez, I thought that with the business you guys are involved in that this wouldn't be nothin' special. Guess I was wrong." Glancing around the room once more, the pig-tailed boy became slightly annoyed that the expressions on the girls' faces hadn't changed. He sighed once more, "Oh c'mon! You even saw me change into a girl in battle is it really _that_ surprising to find that I can change back? It's a simple concept, cold water changes me to a girl and warm water changes me back to a guy, got it? Even Akane can follow that recipe!"

The girls' expressions slowly started to return to normal, and Ranma was about to speak again when he felt a cold liquid drizzle onto his head, and a familiar change come over his body. Ranko's eye twitched as she craned her neck backwards to gaze at Minako standing over her with a pitcher of ice water, an expression akin to a gleeful elementary school girl plastered to her face. "Whoa! It really does work!" the blonde exclaimed, a sense of amazement in her voice. Taking the kettle of warm water that Ranko had set down next to her, she poured the warm fluid onto the red-head, once again reverting her back to normal. Giggling to herself, Minako repeated the process again, and again, and again. "Heehee, this is fun!" The other girls simply sweat-dropped as they beheld the spectacle in front of them.

"This was exactly what U-chan did," Ranma mumbled under his breath.

*A Few Minutes Later*

Ranma, now in boy form, ground his teeth as he felt the last of the hot water drizzle onto his head. Upturning the now empty kettle completely, Minako frowned, "Aw, guess we're all out of hot water," she complained before snapping her fingers, "I'll go get some more."

As she turned to go to the kitchen, her wrist was grabbed by Rei, "That's. . . enough Mina-chan," the raven-haired girl muttered while pinching the bridge of her nose, "I think we've all seen enough."

"Aww, but it was so fun," the blonde pouted after setting down the kettle.

"Well, I'm glad you got that outta your system," Ranma said. Turning onto his side, he noticed the three girls in the room that he had never met before. One looked like a boy but Ranma had spent enough time around cross-dressers to know otherwise. "Oh yeah I completely forgot about you three," he rubbed the back of his head before continuing, "You probably already know this but I'm Ranma Saotome and you guys are?"

Slightly surprised from being addressed so suddenly, Haruka hesitated a second before replying, "I am Haruka Tenoh, and these are Michiru Kaioh and Hotaru Tomoe," she gestured to each girl respectively, "We all live in this house along with Setsuna. It's a pleasure to meet you Saotome-san." Once she finished, Haruka and Hotaru bowed while Michiru remained expressionless.

"So about that comment you made earlier," Michiru began, a hint of irritation in her voice, "care to explain yourself?" She crossed her arms in front of her while she glared at Ranma.

Ranma gazed back slightly puzzled, "Comment, comment," he mumbled while tapping his chin with his finger. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers in realization, "Oh you mean the seaweed head one?"

A vein pooped up on the side of Michiru's head, "That's the one," she gritted out.

"Oh don't worry 'bout it," Ranma replied casually, "I won't always call you that. In situations like that I just say the first thing that comes to mind, but I'll be sure to call you your name for now on."

"First thing that comes to mind, huh? So does that mean you really think my hair looks like seaweed?"

"Well, yeah, doesn't it?" Ranma stated obliviously, obviously unaware of the figurative mine field he was walking into. The temperature in the room noticeably dropped, and Haruka and Hotaru took one step away from their positions next to Michiru.

Coughing into her hand, Setsuna re-centered the room's attention onto her. "Well then, now that we have the formalities out of the way, what would you girls like to know first?"

"Why the heck Ranma is a Senshi but was born a boy would be a great place to start," Rei replied, "I mean, Tuxedo Kamen is one thing, but Ranma- er, Ranko or whoever was in a Senshi uniform-,"

"Don't remind me," Ranma mumbled.

"-that's completely different."

Setsuna nodded, "Very well, I think it's time I tell you girls the tale of the Solar Colony and its guardian, Sailor Sun." Any sound that had remained in the room immediately ceased, and everyone's attention was focused solely on Setsuna. "During the Silver Millennium, while the Moon Kingdom was still in power, there was a civilization that resided near the surface of the sun known as the Solar Colony."

"Question!" Everyone's heads whipped around to see Usagi with her hand straight up in the air. "How could there be a colony on the Sun? Isn't it, like, really hot there?"

Irritated from the interruption so early on, Setsuna took a deep breath before continuing, "Not even I don't know the answer to that question. The technology that shielded the colony and allowed for survival in the intense heat and radiation was already present on the surface. The Moon Kingdom simply found and occupied it. To the very day that the Moon Kingdom was destroyed, no one was able to discover how that technology worked or even who made it. Now, any more questions before I continue?" Everyone shook their heads. "Good, now as I said before, the colony depended on the leftover technology for survival. This would normally be too big of a risk in and of itself to send citizens of the Moon Kingdom to colonize it. However, the fact was that the sun's extreme conditions made for the ideal environment to carry out various experiments not possible anywhere else in the kingdom. This was just too great of an opportunity to pass up for the Moon Kingdom.

"Queen Serenity made the decision to send a research team to the colony via heavily heat shielded transport ships to determine if the area was hospitable. That same team returned with a report saying that the colony was 100% habitable and did not show any signs of deterioration or failure in the near future. Not very long after, the first group of colonists was sent to the colony and thus the Solar Colony was born.

"For many centuries, the Solar Colony thrived, spearheading the scientific progression of the Moon Kingdom. They faced no dilemmas and the technology protecting them was still running smoothly. Eventually, the Solar Colony proved to be so valuable, that Queen Serenity decided that it was a key strategic point in need of protection in case of attack.

"Serenity selected Talana Reva among a select group of girls, a girl gentle and pure of heart yet showed steely determination and fortitude in battle. She also exhibited remarkable combat prowess, being able to adapt and re-adapt to a given situation in order to devise the best method of victory. The ascension ceremony was carried out as if it was a normal planet, as Serenity found out that the process for creating a link between a human and a star was very similar. And thus Sailor Sun was born.

"For countless battles, Sun fought for the Moon Kingdom with relentless might. In addition to being proficient in hand-to-hand combat, she was also able to manipulate her magical energy the best out of all the Senshi, giving her access to a whole arsenal of magical attacks instead of being limited to maybe three or four.

"Indeed, combined with the weapon advancements the colony had made, the sun's inapproachable environment, and Sailor Sun, the Solar Colony seemed like an indomitable fortress. That is, until that day."

"When Beryl attacked," Usagi stated sadly, her eyes being drawn to the ground.

"Surprisingly no." Usagi's head snapped up and she stared at Setsuna, her expression of disbelief mirroring those of the girls around her. "In fact, this had nothing to do with the Negaverse, as far as we could tell," she added the last part quickly. "One seemingly normal day, well before the Negaverse attacked, everything just went wrong.

"First, communications with the Solar Colony were lost, well they were still intact but no one was responding. This worried the communicators but did not cause too much alarm. Then, after two hours of no contact, the Moon Kingdom received a distress signal from the Solar Colony. Once again this seemed strange because all the systems monitoring the colony read green. Even so, the Moon Kingdom wasted no time in dispatching a response team to the Solar Colony. En route to the colony however, the unthinkable happened." Everyone leaned in close to Setsuna, completely engrossed by her story. Even Ranma had re-positioned his body on the couch. Setsuna closed her eyes and took another deep breath before continuing. "The technology shielding the colony suddenly failed. The response team looked on in horror as they witnessed the Solar Colony vaporize in an instant. One moment there, and the next gone. All was lost in the blink of an eye and there were no survivors, including Talana. To this day, no one knows who or what caused the destruction of the Solar Colony."

Silence ensued the conclusion of the tale as all the girls in the room looked around at each other, not knowing what to make of what they just heard.

Finally, Rei spoke up, "Don't get me wrong, that is a tragic story but," she leveled an index finger at Ranma, "it still doesn't explain why he- she-," she shook her head, "-it-,"

"Hey!"

Rei continued as if she was never interrupted, "-was born a boy but is a Sailor Senshi."

The atmosphere in the room lightened with the change of subject. "Ah yes, how could I have forgotten?" Setsuna said, "You see, Talana was a lesbian."

One could practically see the question marks appear over everyone's heads. "Aaand?" Makoto prompted while gesturing for Setsuna to continue, "That matters how? Haruka and Michiru are lovers but you don't see one of them as a guy, although Haruka dresses like one."

"Actually that is exactly the reason for this predicament," Setsuna sweat-dropped as she received more blank stares. "You see, Sailor Uranus and Neptune found love in their past lives meaning they passed away satisfied in a relative sense. Talana was not so lucky. She lived her life not knowing what it was like to love and be loved in return. She had confessed to many girls but none of them 'swung that way' and so turned her down. It is quite possible that eventually Talana wished that she was a boy in the back of her mind, and died with that mentality. When Queen Serenity's magic reincarnated the Senshi, it sensed this longing and reincarnated Talana in this time as a boy to fulfill her wish. Of course, Senshi laws still applied so Ranma had to fall in the Spring of Drowned Girl in order to ascend to his- er, her, Senshi-hood."

After Setsuna finished, Ranma seemed to ponder something for a moment before his eyes widened, "So if I had never fallen into that spring, I could've avoided this whole mess?"

"Oh don't worry yourself with that thought," Setsuna replied dismissively, "you were falling into that spring. I made sure of it."

Everyone in the room shared a collective blink, "Wait, waddaya mean 'you made sure of it'? I fell in that spring 'cuz Pops caught me by surprise and knocked me into it. You had nothin' to do with it."

"Oh you'd be amazed at what a simple re-arrangement of those bamboo poles you used as foot-holds can result in," Setsuna replied in a wry tone.

"I think we're getting a little off topic here," Usagi stated, attempting to ignore the hostile glare Ranma was aiming at Setsuna. "The fact of the matter is that we have a new Senshi with us and we need to welcome, er him, to our group." Walking over to where Ranma laid on the couch, the blonde leader of the Senshi held her hand out. "So Ranma-kun, will you join the magical warriors of love and justice, and defend this city from the evils that threaten it?"

Ranma stared at the hand in front of his face for a moment, then held his own palm up. "I'll pass. If you think I'm _ever_ getting in that outfit again in my LIFE, you got another thing comin'," he deadpanned.

Usagi paused for a second before retracting her hand to rub the back of her head, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, probably should've seen that one coming." The prospect of becoming a magical warrior of love and justice and protecting the city from evil may seem appealing to a teenage girl, but to any normal boy, especially Ranma, it would probably be approaching sheer torture. Except for that special group of people who'd she rather not think about.

"However," Usagi attention snapped back to the boy in question. "That's not to say that I won't help you guys. I don't need no frilly skirt to kick some demon ass. That was a one-time deal and it ain't gonna happen again, but I will still fight with you. Besides, it's not like I can ignore a rampaging monster tearing up the city. Even if I never actually join your group, we share the same goals, and that makes us allies in my book. And ya don't havta worry about me being recognized. If you really want me to, I can project my Ki around my body to make an illusion like your magic stuff to prevent anyone from recognizing me." Ranma had developed that technique from revising the Umi-sen ken. He knew it'd come in handy one day, although it'd be useless in front of people skilled in detecting Ki such as Cologne, but he shouldn't need to worry about that quite yet.

Usagi's face beamed and held out her hand once again. "Then Ranma Saotome, I look forward to working with you."

Ranma grinned before taking the hand with his own, "Pleasure working with ya."

Everyone in the room clapped, accompanied with "Welcome to the team". After straightening one of her pony tails, Usagi proclaimed, "Well everyone, that about wraps up this meeting. Haruka-san, why don't you give Ranma-kun and Mako-chan and ride home since he's still injured."

"Oh nah, it's ok, I'm good." After receiving a handful of skeptical stares, Ranma tried again. "No really, I'm fine now. I can get home by myself see?" After that, the pig-tailed boy leaped off the couch and landed straight on his feet, hands on his hips and chest puffed out. He didn't want to be a burden to these girls any more than he already has.

Ami was still doubtful and approached him. "Mm hm, really now? So it doesn't hurt one tiny bit when I do this?" Ami proceeded to firmly poke and bandaged area on Ranma's rib cage. The injured boy's body immediately stiffened as if pulled by the head and feet, and a visible tremble shivered throughout his body.

"Not, a, bit," he squeezed out through clenched teeth.

"Oh come now Ranma-san, do you even know how to get home from here?" Ami wagged a finger in front of the martial artist's face as if scolding a dog.

Ranma blinked at the question. Now that he thought about it, he doesn't even know what part of town he's in right now. "Uh, of course I do," he lied.

"No you don't," Ami fired back, "With those injuries, you need to rest for _at least_ the rest of the night and I only say that because I can tell you have amazing healing capabilities from the amount you've recovered in this short time." Her voice was firm and demanding, very different from Ami's normal demeanor which surprised Ranma. "Now you're going to ride home with Haruka-san, and you're going to let Mako-chan take care of you for the rest of the night and tomorrow morning. Do I make myself clear!"

"Yes ma'am," Ranma managed to squeak out. The rest of the girls weren't as surprised by Ami's change in behavior, but observed silently nonetheless. They had known her for a long enough time to know that the cobalt-haired girl is stern on very few things, and wellbeing is one of them.

Ami turned her attention to Makoto, "And Mako-chan, don't let him come to school tomorrow unless he's fully recovered and active."

"Understood, ma'am!" she replied, saluting as if to a military official.

"Good, then that's it. Good night everyone, I'll hopefully see all of you tomorrow."

XXXX

Ranma stared dreary eyed at the breakfast in front of him. Throughout the night, Makoto had awoken him numerous times to check up on him. Every time he would fall asleep he would awake to a "Ranma, are you doing alright?" After grumbling out a reply he would hear the door close and try to fall asleep once more only to be roused once again in what seemed like ten minutes later. Needless to say, he didn't get much sleep last night. So little, that he didn't even have the energy to get up early to do his morning workout, which says ALOT.

"Ranma-kun, would you like another pancake?" Of course, this story is completely undermined by the bubbly energetic voice that came from the kitchen of the room. Ranma turned his head to the voice and just stared for a moment at Makoto cooking up a storm. One would assume that the amount of times he was woken up would mean a slow morning for the temporary resident brunette as well. Apparently this was not the case.

Turning back to the un-touched pancake on his plate, Ranma continued his staring contest with his delicious opponent. It wasn't the fact that it was a pancake that scared him, after all he was known for being a living garbage disposal, but more the fact that it was shaped like a heart, accompanied by two sunny-side up eggs and a piece of bacon arranged in the iconic happy face.

Although he was getting some bad vibes from the breakfast, Ranma eventually shrugged and figured food was food, who cares what shape it's in. Never one to turn down extra sustenance, he also accepted Makoto's offer for another pancake.

Downing his glass of orange juice, Ranma turned and thanked the chef.

"Oh no biggie," she replied, "I had to make sure you got better, and that means making you a good breakfast."

"Yeah, that was some good grub," Ranma rubbed his belly well standing up. "Well, I'm gonna go get ready for school now. Maybe do some exercises real quick too."

As Ranma was about to leave the room, he felt himself yanked back by the collar of his shirt. "Just hold it right there mister. Ami told me to not let you go to school unless you're fully recovered. So I'm going to have to examine you first."

Facing Makoto again, Ranma rubbed the back of his head, "Well, ok I guess. Ami did say that. Well go ahead then and examine me."

"Good, then strip to your boxers," she said with a completely straight face.

Silence ensued for the moment. Eventually it was broken by the pig-tailed boy's, "Come again?"

"You heard me," Makoto insisted, reaching for Ranma's shirt as he pulled away, "I can't examine you properly with all those clothes on you. You want to go to school don't you?"

"Uh-"

"Never mind. Don't answer that. Just hurry up and take off your clothes." Makoto lunged for Ranma who evaded to the side and raised his hands in front of him.

"I-I really don't think it's necessary for me to take off my clothes for you to make sure I'm alright." Ranma ducked underneath Makoto's arms again and quickly moved to the opposite side of the room.

His assailant faced him and crossed her arms in front of her chest with a dissatisfied look on her face. "Ok fine," she placed heavy emphasis on the second word, "I guess you can keep your pants, but your shirt's gotta come off. Have to make sure your wounds healed after all."

Ranma slumped his shoulders in defeat, "Alright, I guess that's ok." It wasn't even a second after Ranma took off his Chinese shirt when Makoto was right in front of him and moving her hands about his abdomen.

"Hmm, nice firm abs. Always a healthy sign." Finishing with his chest, the brunette proceeded to Ranma's arms. All the while, the pig-tailed martial artist was a stiff as a floorboard.

"Um, uh Mako-," Ranma tried to stutter but was cut off once again.

"I can't tell whether your arms are healthy enough. I'll need you to flex them." Ranma did so. "Ah there we go. I can tell you're just fine. Now let's check that butt."

Even Cologne would have been impressed at the speed in which Ranma grabbed his shirt and fled to the other side of the room once again.

Makoto puffed out her cheeks and placed her fists on her hips. "Alright, I guess that's enough. You seem healthy enough to go to school. Hell, if I didn't know any better I'd say you never even got in a fight." She shrugged while Ranma nodded his head silently. "Well, you can go get ready now. I'll go wait for you outside." Ranma nodded again and Makoto exited the room.

XXXX

"Let's throw a welcoming party!" All activity underneath the tree in the school ceased and all eyes focused on Usagi. The day's lunch was going relatively normally until that moment.

Ranma was the first to speak, "For what? Me?" he asked pointing to himself.

"Yes you," Usagi replied energetically, "Who else just arrived in Juuban and has ascended to a very special cause?"

"Well I haven't really done nothin' to deserve a welcome party."

"Yes you have. You've joined our team and cause and that's reason enough to throw a party. Right guys?" Usagi turned to the three other girls.

Minako nodded, "I agree. Ranma-kun still doesn't seem completely comfortable here so I think a party would be just the thing to help him loosen up a bit." As she finished, Minako slid over to Ranma and hugged his left arm.

Makoto was not about to let that slide, as she too quickly slid and snatched Ranma's right arm, "And I'll cook some food that's sure to make all of your worries just melt away."

"Um, uh," Ranma stumbled about searching for the right words.

Ami, meanwhile, sighed and shook her head. "Girls, don't you realize that you're both making him more nervous than relaxed?"

"It's not me, it's Mako-chan!" the blonde shouted accusingly, hugging Ranma's appendage even closer to her bosom.

"No way, that's all you Mina-chan!" the opposition yelled, pulling her arm closer as well.

"Alright, then let's ask Ranma-kun. Ranma-kun, is either of us making you tense? It's Mako-chan right?" Minako looked up at Ranma's face to see his head hung loosely on his shoulder, his eyes awhirl. Minako blinked, then glared at Makoto again. "See you broke him! It's all your fault this happened to him!"

"_My _fault? It was obviously you that did this to him!" the brunette fired back.

The verbal brawl continued, with the opposing factors face-to-face in front of Ranma's own.

Ami sighed again and turned to Usagi, "Do you think this will be a problem?"

"Of course not! I think it's good that they get along so well with Ranma-kun."

"I think you're missing the point," she turned back to the clash in front of her with bored eyes, which had now degenerated to the two girls yanking on Ranma's arms, resembling a scene from a tug-a-war competition. "So when are we going to have this welcoming party then?"

"Dunno, let's meet up with Rei after school and work it out."

"That's if Ranma is still sane enough to stick around until then," Ami muttered under her breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Oh, nothing."

XXXX

After a thoughtful deliberation (Usagi insisting her idea endlessly for ten minutes) it was decided that the welcoming party would be held the next day after the half-day of school at Rei's shrine.

"I have to check with Grandpa to make sure, but I'm sure it won't be a problem," Rei said to the group.

"Really? Oh thank you so much Rei-chan!" Usagi exclaimed with stars in her eyes. She then proceeded to glomp the raven haired girl.

"Really, it's nothing," Rei replied as she tried to pry the blonde off of her, "I want to make Ranma-san feel welcome too," she then cast a glare at said martial artist, "Even if he has pissed me off in the past without him knowing it."

Ranma was already looking away and whistling to himself as if he heard nothing while the other girls around him giggled. Then his whistling stopped abruptly as he remembered something. "Hey, any of you got the time?"

"Yeah it's. . ." Minako glanced at the wrist watch she was wearing, "5:30. Why do you ask?"

"Ahh crap, I completely forgot about my job. Sorry guys but I gotta split here." Ranma turned and began to walk to the Crown Game Corner. . .

"Wait Ranma-kun, you have a job? I didn't know that. Where do you work?"

. . . was what he thought he'd do, but instead froze mid-stride at Makoto's question. _Damn, I forgot that they don't know I work as a waitress. Even though they know about my curse, I still don't want them to find out._

"Um, Ranma-kun, you there? Earth to Ranma. I asked where you work." As Makoto started to reach out to shake Ranma out of whatever reverie he was in, the pig-tailed boy suddenly bolted forward, full-sprint, leaving a dust trail behind him.

Makoto stood dumbstruck, her hand still stretched out towards the rapidly disappearing dust cloud. "I. . . guess he really was in a big rush."

"I guess so," Usagi mumbled. "Well then, who wants ice cream?" Making a complete 180 in attitude, the girls looked and shrugged at each other.

"Might as well," Ami said, "we can discuss plans for the party while we're at it."

XXXX

She should've known. She should've known this would happen if she ran away.

It was as if all time had stopped at the entrance to the Crown Game Corner. On one end, a pig-tailed, redheaded girl who stood frozen like a deer in the headlights. On the other, a group of five girls who were equally stunned into paralysis. The silence persisted as the two factions continued to stare at each other.

Finally, time was restored as Unazuki entered the scene, "Oh hey guys, nice to see you all," she called out to the group of girls, seemingly oblivious to the current situation. "I see you found Ranko-chan here. You should've seen her last time you all were here, she was so nervous haha." Unazuki started patting the still motionless Ranko on the back. "Well, why don't you take a short break Ranko to get everything sorted out? I can handle your area for a while." And with that, Unazuki trotted back into the dining area to take another customer's order.

Eventually, Ranko sighed and threw her arms up in defeat. "Y'know what, whatever. You already know about my curse and I knew this was going to happen eventually. Why don't we just go grab a table so we can talk."

This snapped the other girls out of their dazes as they nodded and proceeded to follow Ranko. As they took up a booth, with the girls somehow all squeezed into one side and Ranko on the other, Ranko immediately leaned over the table and launched into her explanation, "Ok so basically, I needed money, so I needed a job. This was the only one around that pays well, isn't far away, and has decent hours. And before you ask," she raised a finger to Usagi who was opening her mouth, "no Unazuki-chan does not know 'bout my curse so if you don't wanna make things more complicated don't say anything around her that could give her ideas." Ranko sat back in her seat and took a deep breath. "Ok, that's my story. Now what do you have to say?"

The girls were silent for a moment, then Makoto said, "Actually, now that we're over the initial shock, it's not that big a deal." Ranko blinked then turned to Ami who was starting to speak.

"Yes, even though we wouldn't expect you to take up this job, your reasoning for doing so is perfectly logical."

"Exactly," Minako joined in, "So don't worry about it. It's not like we'll think less of you for doing what needs to be done. So what if your job happens to require you to be in girl form?"

"Although I can't say we won't poke some fun at you every now and then," Rei snickered which resulted in dissatisfied look from Usagi. "Oh come on, with the stuff he's already pulled on us, he deserves to have his chain yanked every now and then."

Through experience, she knows that if the original crew of misfits in Nerima discovered her current occupation, a wide variety of VERY bad things could ensue. Even if she had already waitressed in the past, they were not once voluntary and normally had something to do with her training. This time was entirely her own volition and had absolutely no connection to her training whatsoever. In a nutshell, she would never hear the end of the insults to her manhood, as strange as that sounds in her current form.

"Ranko?" Ami's voice snapped her back to the plane of reality. "Are you ok? You looked like you were just staring into space there."

Ranko shook her head, "Yeah I'm fine, I was just thinking about how nice you girls are."

All the girls blinked. The statement wasn't particularly odd, but it wasn't normal either. "Well, thanks I guess. I'm glad you think that way of us Ranko-chan," Usagi said with a hint of puzzlement in her voice.

"No really!" Ranko exclaimed, mistaking the confusion for disbelief, "If anyone from where I used to live found out I work here, I'd never hear the end of it."

That made Makoto realize something, "Speaking of which," she began, "What was your life like before you came to Juuban Ranko? I don't think you've told us anything about it other than you practiced martial arts and went to Furinkan High." The other girls nodded, equally curious as to what the enigmatic little red-head's life was like before entering a, as far as they know, extremely strange lifestyle. Although Ranko had mentioned a few things about his old school, they were so vague and strange that they didn't really understand.

Ranko cupped her chin with her hand and gestured to the other girls. "Give me a moment. I needa think of a good way of putting it." The girls looked at each other while Ranko thought, their curiosity raised ever higher. Finally Ranko snapped her fingers, "I got it! Ok imagine you're in hell. Now imagine that you're deathly afraid of fire, and that gives you a pretty good idea of what my life was like." No response came from the girls, as they weren't quite sure how to interpret the analogy. "That's what I probably would've said if you asked me that question during my first year of living in Nerima, but now I'm kinda used to it."

That got the girls' attention. "Nerima? _The _Nerima?" Rei said in disbelief. Ranko nodded. "As in _the _Nerima that has an annual abnormal event count that rivals that of even Juuban? _That _Nerima?"

Ranko nodded again, "I don't know 'bout any other Nerima. Hmm, abnormal events huh? That's a new one, they're not abnormal, they're just martial artists fighting more likely than not. In fact, I think every "abnormal event" is related to martial arts in some way. Besides, I already told you I went to Fuurinkan High, I thought you could tell from that?"

Rei's jaw hung open, and the other girls shared her surprise as well. Although astonishing, this does help explain Ranko's stoic behavior towards that happenings of Juuban. Almost anyone would be hard to surprise after living in the battleground know as Nerima for a year or more. Heck, even a month could be potentially life scarring.

Just as they were about to question further, however, Unazuki came over. "Sorry girls, I've got to steal Ranko-chan back," she said. After clapping her hands together and giving a short bow, Unazuki turned to Ranko, "C'mon Ranko-chan, time to get back to work."

"Yeah no problem," as Ranko stood up from the booth, she turned back to the five girls crammed into one seat, "Well, I'm glad that turned out well. I'll talk to you guys later 'k?" Receiving a nod from all five heads, Ranko returned to her waitress job.

As the girls continued to stare as Ranko left, Usagi asked, "Think we'll ever fully understand Ranko-chan?"

"We'd have to first fully understand you Usagi," Rei deadpanned, the other girls nodded in unison.

"Wah, that's not nice! I think Ranko-chan meant everyone was nice except Rei."

A vein pooped up on the side of said raven haired girl, "What was that meatball head?" and promptly began digging her knuckle into Usagi's skull.

The other girls just stared, then had their attention re-directed to Ranko, who had returned to the table. "I almost forgot, I still need to take your orders," she said cheerfully, before noticing the brawl between Usagi and Rei. "What could've happened in the few seconds I was gone?" she asked while raising an eyebrow to the fighting girls.

"Don't ask."

XXXX

Saturday morning came and went uneventfully. With a mere half day of school, Ranma and the girls drifted through the morning with differing emotions.

Ranma, although curious as to what the girls are going to do for him, was calm and not much different than usual. In other words, he was sleeping through class again.

Usagi, on the other hand, could rarely be seen more spirited in class than she was that morning. The entirety of her classes were spent by passing notes between herself, Makoto, and Minako. Each note received elicited either a giggle and a nod of the head, or a frown and a shake, both of which were followed by furious scribbling of a response. Whether the teacher really did not see the girls passing notes across the classroom in all sorts of manners (Ranma could've sworn he saw a paper shuriken fly by his desk in a short window that he was awake) or if she just didn't care enough to try and stop them was up for debate.

As for Ami, she was writing a different kind of notes. That was, actual notes taken in a notebook to record the information learned in class. Needless to say, it would take nothing less than a hurricane to keep that girl from satiating her craving for knowledge.

As soon as the bell rang to announce the end of the school day, Ranma was forcibly removed from his seat and vacated from the school premise by the excited group of girls followed by the ever tranquil Ami.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't we havta go meet Rei-chan?" Ranma cried out as he was pulled by Usagi and pushed from behind by Makoto and Minako.

"No need. Since the party is at her temple, Rei-chan will just meet us there," Usagi replied enegetically.

"Ok, I guess that makes sense but don't you need to get everything set up before I come over?"

"Nope, everything's taken care of," Makoto responded this time, "We went over last night and arranged everything already."

With that, Ranma hung his head in defeat, "Alright, lead the way leader."

"Yay, we're going to have so much fun!"

XXXX

A few minutes later, and the group was approaching the entrance to Rei's shrine. Standing out front was Rei in her normal clothes and a short stubby old man in a traditional Shinto priest outfit. Ranma felt a chill go up his spine as the elderly man resembled a certain shriveled lecher back home, but he quickly calmed down in realization that the man in front of him was much too tall . . . even if he was still very short.

The old man opened his arms out to Ranma and spoke in a raspy voice, "Ah Saotome-san, it's nice to finally meet you. I've heard so much about you from Rei-chan here," he patted Rei on the back, a little lower than Rei was comfortable with but whether that was on purpose or just due to the man's stature was unknown.

"Grandpa!" Rei shouted.

"Oh come on, don't be so embarrassed. I was just joking around," the man let loose a hardy chuckle before turning back to Ranma. "Anyways, where are my manners? I'm Rei's grandpa and also the priest of this shrine."

Ranma stepped forward and gave a courteous bow, "It's nice to meet you Hino-san."

Rei's grandpa laughed again, "Oh don't worry about being formal with me. Just call me Grandpa and I'll call you Ranma-kun alright?"

"Yeah, sure thing Gramps," Ranma said while straightening his back.

Grandpa blinked, an action somehow made possible with his perpetually closed eyes, "Hm, I guess Gramps works too." He coughed into his fist to regain composure, "Now why don't you youngsters head inside and have fun? I'll be attending to the temple visitors so just shout if you need anything."

"OK!"

As the group approached the entrance to the living area of the shrine, Ranma was stopped in front of the door by the girls.

"Now just wait here for a sec Ranma-kun," Usagi said, her expression screaming excitement, "We're just going to run in really quick to get some things prepared. We'll call you when we're ready." With that, the girls quickly slid behind the door and Rei's grandpa went off to tend to the shrine, leaving Ranma to wonder what was in store for him on the other side of the door.

A few minutes later, and Ranma heard Usagi's voice call that he could come in. Ranma entered the room and…

*P-p-pop!*

… was met with a flurry of confetti ejected from multiple party poppers followed by a chorus of, "Welcome to Juuban Ranma-kun!" The first thing Ranma noticed in the room was the large banner hanging over head that read the same thing as the girls just said. The pig-tailed boy smiled as he saw the grinning faces of Usagi, Makoto, Rei, and Ami and- wait a minute. Where's—

*Splash! P-p-pop!*

"And welcome to Juuban Ranko-chan!" The girls broke down into hysterical laughter, including Minako who was standing behind the sour looking Ranko.

"Aw, don't give us that look," Rei chided, still shaking off the last remnants of her laughter, "You know we had to do it and look!" she reached and grabbed a cup of steaming water, "We have some hot water ready for you already so loosen up and let's have some fun!"

Ranko quickly took the cup and upturned it over her head. As if nothing had happened, the now male Ranma looked at the table in the center of the room. Spread on top of it was a wide assortment of sweet goodies and other foods such as taiyaki and potato chips, topped off by a small chocolate cake in the center of it all. After grabbing a pork bun from a tray, Ranma said, "Yeah, I guess I can forgive you since you got so much great food ready." After Ranma took a bite from the bun, the girls giggled and promptly scurried to their seats to begin the party.

XXXX

Two hours into the party, and the table was devoid of all food and everyone was having a blast. The girls had all given Ranma a gift and while he wasn't sure if he would actually use them, he appreciated the thought. For example, a new graphing calculator from Ami ("You are going to need it for your next tutor session," she said) and an elephant stuffed animal from Usagi ("Isn't it the cutest?).

Eventually Usagi sighed and pouted that it was a shame Luna and Artemis couldn't come, which of course elicited a visible reaction from Ranma. After the inevitable question of why he was so deathly afraid of cats was thrown, Ranma decided that is was ok to explain to the girls the Neko-ken training he underwent.

"That's horrible!" Ami exclaimed, sharing the same horrified expression as the other girls.

"Yeah, that's what people normally say," Ranma said nonchalantly with a wave of his hand and closed his eyes as he continued. "Although I think the time that he sold me for a fish and two pickles rivals even that. And there's that thing where he'd throw me off a building while I sleeping to teach me how to land and take damage, or tie a weight onto me and toss me into a lake and have me struggle to get out." Ranma paused and opened an eye to glance around the room, which was surprisingly quiet. "Wow normally someone would say—"

"I'M GONNA KILL THAT SONUVA BITCH!" Rei roared vehemently, slamming her fist on the table.

"Yeah, somethin' like that at this part. I've also heard, 'That bastard is a dead man when I meet him,' and, 'Better start shopping for a good coffin Ranma,' before, but that's generally the usual response.

Rei stood dumbfounded, "I don't get it, how are you so calm about all of this? You never once thought while you were with him that things weren't right?"

"She has a very valid point Ranma-kun," Ami interjected, "If this man truly committed such treacherous acts, he could be sent to jail for life for child abuse or maybe attempted murder." Just as Ami was going to continue, she paused as she watched Ranma, seemingly deep in thought, mumble to himself and what seemed like counting on his fingers.

"Standard response number one or standard response munber four, hmm. Ah, let's go with one." Ranma looked back at the speechless group. "Well, Pops never actually killed me so in a sense, he was very good to pushing me to my absolute limit without going over. That, and the fact that ever since I can remember, Pops had told me that I should dedicate my life to the arts and that if I wasn't prepared to give up my life for them then my life would be meaningless and I could never be a true man. That's not to say that I'm not pissed off at him to this day for some other stupid crap he pulled over on me, but that's a story for another time."

The girls continued to stare at Ranma with slacked jaws. Rei and Ami appeared to want to resume their earlier arguments, but instead gave up and sat back down. Ranma was glad that they didn't prod any further. While he was comfortable disclosing that much information, he really didn't feel like explaining the fiancée situation. He knows it's inevitable that they will find out if they keep hanging around him, but he'll cross that bridge when it comes.

*Be-Be-Beep! Be-Be-Beep!*

The awkwardness in the room was broken as the sharp beeping noise rang throughout the room. The girls knew what came next, and Ranma had a good idea, as Ami stood up to retrieve her computer from her bag. Opening up her blue Mercury computer, Ami sighed and spoke in a dejected tone, "It's a youma attack, in the park area again."

"Aw man. How come the bad guys always have to interrupt us when we're having fun?" Usagi complained while puffing out her cheeks.

"I can't answer that question for you but we have to go now before any serious damage is done," Ami replied, still typing away to zero in on the coordinates of the youma.

"Alright, I could use a good fight," Ranma said as he stood up and rolled he shoulders. As he headed for the door, he was yanked back by the collar.

"Uh uh uh. Aren't you forgetting something," Rei chided while waving a small cup of water in Ranma's face. Ranma stared at the cup blankly then up at Rei's face.

"But I'm not thirsty," Ranma replied honestly, not understanding the obvious implications.

"It's not to drink it's to pour on you!" After witnessing Ranma's expected powerful refusal, Rei sighed then turned to Ami, "Ami-chan care to explain? I doubt I'd be able to get him to understand like you can."

Ami nodded, "You see Ranma, the Sailor Senshi is a group of girls with one exception correct?"

"Except that exception isn't here because he's studying abroad in America," Usagi pouted.

Ami shook her head then repeated her question, "A group of girls right Ranma-kun?" The boy nodded meekly. "Therefore, any new group members would be expected by the public to be girls right?" Another nod. "Then you understand that a boy fighting with the Senshi would attract more unwanted attention than we need right?" No nod this time. "Ok look Ranma, basically we need you to be a girl while fighting with us so that none of the sick perverts out there get any perverse ideas alright. We'll still call you Sun so no one recognizes you." Seeing as there was still no response from the pig-tailed boy, Ami turned and nodded to Rei who promptly splashed the cup of water in Ranma's face before he could react.

That snapped the now female Ranko out of Ami's quasi-hypnotism. "Hey! I never actually agreed!"

"There's no time to argue," Rei snapped back, "The longer we wait the more likely that an innocent bystander is hurt."

Ranko pouted, her face still red with the remnants of her anger, "Oookaaay, I'll go along with it for now but don't expect me to let this go."

"Good, then let's go girls," Usagi proclaimed.

XXXX

As the Senshi plus Ranko approached the area of the youma attack, they already saw smoke billowing in the distance of the park. Picking up their pace, they arrived where the smoke was coming from and saw the same lizard-like youma that Ranma had supposedly single-handedly defeated while the other girls were off transforming.

"Hey, what's the deal?" Sailor Jupitor questioned, "If it's the same youma as last time then Sun can wipe the floor with it and we can be home before dinner."

"Man and I was hoping for a challenge," Ranko said while she cracked her knuckles and took a step forward. As soon as her foot landed, however, she froze in her tracks as her battle senses were assailed by an intense intent to kill. Ranko narrowed her eyes as she located the source of the aura which wasn't difficult since it was overflowing from the branches of a nearby tree. "Moko Takabisha," she said in a calm voice as she launched a mini-sized ball of Ki at the branches.

The Senshi stared blankly at Ranko. "Uh, Sun, the youma is over there," Moon said puzzlingly as she pointed at the mini-Godzilla, "Not up there."

Ranko completely ignored her, "Mind introducin' yourself," she spoke to the branches.

For a moment only silence followed until a soft chuckle emitted from the trees. "Ha ha ha, I'd expect nothing less from the one I've heard so much about." The Senshi's attention snapped to the tree branches. A second later, a hooded figure swung from one of the branches with its legs and flipped in the air before landing soundly on the ground. "You had me worried. For a second there I thought you'd fall for the same trick Lyna used," the figure mocked. It was easy to tell that the cool voice belonged to that of a male. The figure snapped its fingers and the supposed youma quickly flickered out of existence.

"Another hologram," Venus spoke incredulously, "Why can't you guys just fight like all the other bad guys before?"

"Maybe because I don't need a youma for this kind of mission," the figure replied from behind its hood as if answering a small child's stupid question.

The cloaked man began to raise his hands and the Senshi quickly got into fighting stances. The figure froze when it saw their actions. "Aw, c'mon don't be so jumpy." The figure continued to move its hands to its hood and promptly pulled it back.

The face that was revealed was that of a man who appeared maybe to be in his twenties. His dark blue hair drooped in front of his hazel brown eyes and he wore a grin that gave an impression that this man hadn't a care in the world.

"How's it goin' Sailor Senshi? The name's Rind and I'll be your entertainer today." Rind swung his arm in front of him and gave an exaggerated bow; his grin did not waver a bit.

Sailor Moon stepped forward and demanded, "Very well Rind, why are you here and what do you want?"

"Jeez you really are stupid if you expect me to answer such ridiculous questions, dork," he replied in the same condescending tone as earlier while placing his hands behind his head. This made Moon turn a slight shade of red with irritation. "Do you really expect an enemy to reveal his intentions so easily for no visible gain?" For a split second Rind narrowed his eyes at the girls which caused the Senshi, except Ranko, to flinch back in surprise. However, it was only for a split second as soon Rind's demeanor returned to his usual laid-back attitude.

"Buuut, I can tell you that I needa fight but first. . ." Rind leveled a finger at Ranko, ". . . I need you, Talana, to transform."

"Like hell I will," Ranko retorted with no sign of compromise in her voice, "I can kick your ass myself without any frilly magic powers."

Rind sighed and placed two fingers on his forehead as if thinking about something, "I thought you'd say that."

For a few seconds, nothing happened, the two factions just continued to stare at each other. Then Ranko's eyes widened as she saw the fingers on Rind's free hand twitch suddenly.

"GET DOWN!" she yelled.

But it was too late. The earth around the girls was torn asunder by some invisible force as Ranko shielded her face with her arms from the flying bits of rock. It lasted only for a moment and when Ranko uncovered her face, she found all the Senshi suspended in mid-air with their arms and legs spread out. It looked as if were just floating there- no, that's not right. As Ranko looked closer she saw that the girls were being bound by extremely thin strings that were anchored to the branches of the trees nearby. They must have been bounded very tightly, as the girls were gritting their teeth in an attempt to bare the pain.

Ranko turned back to Rind with a fire in her eyes. "Let, them, down," she demanded in a steely voice.

"Gladly. After I'm done with my work here," Rind mocked cockily. "You see Talana, my mission is actually to fight you in your Senshi form, and we can't be havin' any interruptions now can we? So hurry up and get dressed so we can get this over with."

"You can go rot in hell. I already said that I'm not getting in that-,"

"AHH!"

Ranko halted her rebuttal suddenly and turned around to see the girls screaming out in agony, their faces even more contorted than before as they desperately tried to bare the searing pains etched into their bodies.

"Uh, uh, uh," Rind chided while waving his finger in front of him. "You better do what I say if you don't want to see these girls to get bloody." To emphasize his point, Rind raised his right hand that had some sort of circular device on the back that seemed to be the origin of the strings.

The red-haired girl scowled and raised her fist in front of her face. It was easy to tell that those strings wouldn't be cut by an easy method. "You bastard, fine then! You're gonna regret pissin' me off bub." With that, Ranko swung her arm down to her side and. . . did nothing. Another second passed before, "Um, how _do_ I get in that thing?"

The tension in the air instantly evaporated. Rind seemed equally surprised as the girls. He let just enough slack in his strings so the bound girls could talk.

"But you've already transformed once before, shouldn't you already know how?" Moon asked incredulously.

"Yeah, well that was done kinda unconsciously," Ranko replied while rubbing the back of her head, "I don't actually remember how I did it." The girl laughed nervously while the Senshi sweat-dropped.

"Let's hurry this up people. I don't have all day," Rind said impatiently while gesturing with his hand.

After glaring at the blue haired man, Mars said, "You should be able to transform if you say 'Sun Star Power Make-Up' but wait a sec. Do you even have a Hensh-."

"Alright got it," Ranko cut Mars off before she finished her question. Turning back to her opponent, Ranko repeated the same motion of swinging her arm to her side and. . .

"SUN STAR POWER MAKE-UP!"

. . . yelled those words. Immediately, a crest flashed across the back of Ranko's outstretched hand and emitted a glow that quickly enveloped the red-head. As the transformation carried out, she felt her usual Chinese clothes seemingly melt off her body and be replaced with new garments. She couldn't say that the warm, gentle light didn't feel comforting when she felt as if floating in space. Soon, the light disappeared, and in its place stood Sailor Sun already in a battle stance.

"Alright finally. Now let's get this show on the road!" Rind shouted and threw off his black cloak revealing a red sleeveless top, its fiery color slashed by a black X and black cargo shorts.

"No need to keep those boring duds on," Rind commented while his original black cloak vanished in his hand, "I'm no intelligence gatherer like Lyna was, I'm a bona-fide soldier so don't expect me to be as easy as she was."

The bounded Senshi were taken aback. If that women earlier was just an intelligence gatherer and was able to defeat all of them so easily, then what are the capabilities of an official fighter?

"I don't care if you're a soldier or a clean-up boy, you're getting' an ass whoopin' for holding these girls hostage," Sailor Sun remarked, then quickly rushed at Rind at a blinding speed.

Sun opened up with high kick aimed for Rind's head, but he bent backwards and Sun watched as her kick soared above his face. Using the momentum of the kick, Sun spun around and continued with a low kick meant to sweep the blue haired man off his feet. However, with his back still bent, Rind performed a backwards somersault to avoid the attack.

Rind ended up a few meters from Sun. "Phew nice attack. Caught me a little off-guard there," he said, although it didn't sound like he was put off at all. Lunging forward, Rind covered the distance between him and Sun in the blink of an eye.

Sun wasn't surprised at all, however, and was easily able evade Rind's opening punch to her stomach. Rind didn't let up though, as he continued his carefully timed and aimed punches, kicks, and thrusts without showing any sign of an opening. Sun was impressed, this man's attacks weren't just a flurry of attacks like Lyna's before, but were carefully strung together where each movement smoothly flowed to the next. Sun imagined that it may have looked like a choreographed dance to an outsider.

Sun wasn't having particular trouble avoiding damage from such a combination, however, she'll never win if she can't find an opening and go on the offensive. Finally, Rind threw a punch that was ripe for a throw, and Sun took advantage of it. Taking hold of the outstretched arm, Sun flung Rind over her shoulder.

Rind was able to twist in the air and land flat on his feet, however, but it gave Sun the chance she needed for her attack. As soon as Rind landed, Sun was in front of him, letting loose her own furious combination. Rind had a surprising amount of openings, but more surprising was the fact that he managed to block or evade each time Sun attacked those opening. It didn't take long for Sun to realize that the blue-haired man was purposefully leaving those weak points to control where she attacked and, therefore, predict her movements. This kind of tactic was obviously extremely risky and began to irritate Sun because it told her that this man was either confident enough in his own abilities to pull off such a stunt, or believed that her own skills were not enough to take advantage of such opportunities. She was more concerned with the latter.

_Fine then, if that's how you're gonna play. . ._ Sun thought to herself. Seeing another opening in Rind's defense, she began a chop to his side. Nevertheless, this was just a feint, and Rind fell for it. As Rind moved to block the blow, Sun's other fist was already on a flight path to his face. However, this blow was blocked as well by a hand that moved in front of Rind's face at the last moment. This left Sun in an unfavorable position as both of her hands were grasped by Rind.

Sun's opponent gave his annoying smirk again, "Excellent! Just what I'd expect from Talana. Ever the sharp one in combat."

Sun scowled and sent a round house kick aimed at Rind's head once again, but he casually released Sun's hands and leaped back to the same distance they started at. "Why don't you stop acting like you know me? I've never met you and it's startin' to piss me off." Even though she was informed of the whole Talana deal, it still irked Sun that this man acted like he's known her all her life.

"True. I haven't actually met you before, but, I have _heard_ a lot about you." Before Sun could question him on what he meant, Rind waved his hand. "But that's getting' off topic. Back to the fight now." Rind threw his arms across each other in front of him, sending a storm of the near invisible threads screaming towards Sun. As the strings tore up the ground again, Sun attempted to dodge to her side but was unable to escape without sustaining a few cuts on her arms and legs.

Scowling at her injuries, Sun turned back to her opponent who was casually twirling the strings around his body. "It's not difficult to see the advantages of a practically invisible weapon is it?" Rind asked in a cocky tone as a tree branch fell beside him, no doubt from being cut by one of the deadly filaments.

"I don't care about your stupid puppet tricks, you can't possibly keep the girls tied up, attack, and defend yourself with only two hands!" Sun shouted just as Rind began his attack again. The red-haired Senshi quickly reacted to the invisible threat by launching what was intended to be a Moko Takabisha but turned out to be a flaming fireball. The fireball fulfilled its purpose just as well, however, as the resulting explosion from the two attacks colliding created just the distraction that Sun needed.

As Rind shielded his eyes from the bright light and heat assailing his body, Sun jumped through the flare and positioned herself above Rind's head. "Defend this you puppet freak!" Sun began to plummet downwards at a ferocious speed. A second before impact, she did a mid-air front flip while extending her leg to deliver a vicious axe kick aimed at Rind's cranium. At the last possible moment though, Rind shifted to the side, taking the blow to his right shoulder instead. As Rind gritted in pain, he flung his left arm around to bring his threads screaming towards Sun, forcing her to abandon a follow-up and retreat instead.

Rind smirked at Sun as she landed and popped his dislocated shoulder back into its socket. "I see, your control of magical energy is top-notch as well. Just to be expected of you." The blue-haired man held out his upturned palm and flexed his fingers. "I'm gonna need you to bring out your weapon now though. So come on, let's go."

Sun scowled at the Rind's attitude despite taking her blow. "First of all, I don't use weapons. That other time that thing just happened to poof into my hands and I was too caught up in the action to care. Second of all, why should I be taking orders from you of all people?"

Rind put a hand to his forehead and sighed. "Fine, I guess we don't need the weapon data for now. I'm sure Lord Zan will be satisfied with-,"

Rind was sharply cut off by the fact that a slender cylindrical object was suddenly swung horizontally at him and was forced to back away. When he regained his footing, he looked to see the Senshi of the Sun wielding the handle of her weapon, but it lacked the blade.

"Jeez you're pretty naïve if you think you can take me on with only a pole," Rind retorted sarcastically shaking his head.

Sun simply stood still for a moment, her head hanging down just enough to cover her face in a shadow. "Oh don't get me wrong," she said in an icy voice, while readying her pole as if it was a spear. She crouched low to the ground, ready to lunge forward at any moment. "The only reason you're still alive after you mentioned that name," she snapped her head up, her right eye burning with the same fiery orange hue as with her fight with Zan, "is because you can't tell me where that bastard Zan is if your head isn't still attached to your neck." There it was again. That inexplicable rage deep within her soul that resounded inside her heart. Just the very mention of that man's name caused this reaction. Why? Why does she hate that man so much?

Sun's internal conflict was interrupted as something flew past her face, barely grazing her cheek which began to bleed. Rind retracted the strings he just shot out. "Hey now, you can't be spacing out after giving a threat like that."

Stunned for only a moment, sun shook her head to re-center her focus on the opponent in front of her. "Just shut up and fight. When I'm done with you, you're gonna tell me exactly where Zan is."

A few seconds passed where the combatants merely stared at each other. Finally, Rind placed his hands behind his head and turned slightly away from Sun. "On second thought, let's end the fighting here today shall we?" he said as if he was changing his mind about going out to lunch.

"My ass we're done!" Sun spat, "You started this fight so you're gonna see it to the end." Sun lunged forward and sprinted the small distance between her and Rind.

The opposing man simply clucked his tongue and shook his head, "There's no helping it I guess."

Sun halted her charge when the air suddenly filled with pained screams. It didn't even take her a second to realize who the owners of them were. Sun whipped hew head behind her and saw the girls squirming and contorting their bodies in pain that was obviously far greater than any they experienced since being captured. More than their clothes were torn, as their skin began to rend as well and the amount of blood pouring down their bodies made it impossible to identify the injuries themselves.

"You forget who is in control here." Sun tore her face away from the miserable sight and turned towards Rind again, who was now directly in front of her as a result of her charge. "You see, you never had a chance of victory to begin with." Rind's expression hardened into one that showed he was entirely serious. "Now kneel," he commanded in a way that left no compromise.

Sun's eyes narrowed into a deadly glare. "Bite me," she snarled. The red-haired Senshi flinched as the screams behind her suddenly intensified, what seemed like an impossible feat.

"I said kneel," Rind repeated.

This time, Sun clenched her eyes shut and bit her bottom lip so hard it began to bleed. As if her joints were rusted hinges, Sun reluctantly dropped down on her right knee and hung her head. The humiliation and dishonor she felt greatly eclipsed any worry she had for what would become of her. Her head was raised by a finger that pushed on her forehead, and she cracked open her eyes to gaze into Rind's once more.

"This will only last for a moment," Rind spoke in his still emotionless tone, "but for you it may seem like an eternity." At that moment, Rind's finger emitted a soft glow, and Sun's consciousness went blank.

Suddenly, Sun arched her back and stared wide-eyed at the sky as her mind was assailed with a multitude of images, each one flashing only for an instant before being replaced by the next. Yet somehow it all registered in Sun's mind.

A woman without an arm lying in a pool of blood.

A man strangling another, only to be shot in the head from behind.

A severed head rolling across a red street.

"No."

A little girl giggling hysterically as she continuously stabbed at a motionless corpse.

A boy with madness in his eyes lights himself on fire.

"Stop."

A baby crying as it is engulfed in flames.

"Please."

Black coat.

Black sword.

Red eyes.

"MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOOOOP!"

White.

XXXX

The Senshi were no longer being tortured by the strings that bound them, but instead were being tortured mentally as they watched helplessly at Sun's plight. Her back was still arched, and her entire body was trembling uncontrollably as if she had been in sub-zero temperatures this whole time. Tears were streaming down her face with no sign of ending. The source of those tears was the most miserable part of all. Her eyes. In her eyes was the primal instinct of fear. The greatest fear one could imagine, the kind that renders the body and mind completely paralyzed. And Sun has been in this state for over ten minutes now.

Finally, her trembling stopped and just as quickly she collapsed on her side. The Senshi's restraints were suddenly released, and they wasted no time rushing over to their fallen comrade. Moon was the first to reach her, and scooped Sun's head into her hand and rested her body on her legs. Sun was taking short, irregular breaths, and one could see her heart beating through her clothing. She had also broken into a sweat, but being able to distinguish between sweat and tears was no easy task.

As Moon began to cry herself, she turned to Rind, "What did you do to her?" her voice cracked from crying.

Rind turned around. "All I did was wake her up from the blissful dream she was having," he replied in a non-caring voice. He raised his hand above his head, "The rest you can find out yourself." Rind snapped his fingers and his figure faded away into thin air.

The Senshi stared at the space Rind occupied only a moment longer before turning back to Sun. "Sun, wake up! C'mon hang in there! Wake up! Sun!" Moon gently shook the body in her hands, but there was no response. What's more, Sun's previous erratic breathing was becoming fainter and fainter by the second.

End Chapter 5

Author's Notes: Well after more than a year of waiting, there's your chapter 5. Probably wasn't worth the wait but I had to get it out eventually. Lots of stereotypical, fuku-fic plot holes in this chapter, but I tried to make them as original as possible to entertain you. Now before I leave you all, I have a few things to say.

The Ending: No, I don't plan on ending every chapter like this nor did I intentionally end in a cliff-hanger. I end my chapters where the story seems to come to a natural stopping point; I don't actually plan where to end my chapters before-hand.

I'd just like to leave some tips for getting me to write faster in the future. They are very simple things that people, nonetheless, seem to forget sometimes:

1. Review, review, review. Most important of them all. It's very difficult for me to know how you like my story if you don't tell me. Even if I haven't updated it in months and it seems like the fic is dead still please review because I am still writing, as evidenced by this chapter. However, please refrain from mono-syllabic/single-worded reviews as they really do not tell me much.

2. PM me. I'm not some almighty person who won't respond to any lowly person. I'm a normal guy who likes to talk to people so if you have a question, comment, concern, etc. that you would like to hear from me on, then go ahead and fire-off a PM. I'll reply to it to the best of my ability.

3. Take part in my polls on my profile. The questions I ask on them help me shape my story so check in every now and then to see if I have a new one up. That'd be appreciated.

OK, that's all I have to say. If you've read this far, I appreciate it. Thank you to all my readers once again for sticking with me. Please wait patiently for the next chapter. In the mean time, let the raging over the ending begin!


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